Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Mar 10, 2017

ANSWER: M. Chandrakasu

Explanation:
Former Agriculture Minister of Puducherry M Chandrakasu died of renal failure at the age of 67.

Chandrakasu is now the opposition AINRC legislator in Puducherry Assembly.

Chandrakasu was first elected as Congress legislator from Neduncadu reserved constituency in Karaikal in 1980.

He is survived by wife and a daughter Chandirapriyanga who is now the opposition AINRC legislator in Puducherry Assembly.

Chandrakasu was first elected as Congress legislator from Neduncadu reserved constituency in Karaikal in 1980. He retained the seat in the 1985 polls and became Speaker of the Assembly.

He was Minister in the Congress ministry led by V Vaithilingam between 1991 and 1996 after being elected for the third successive term from Neduncadu.

He was Agriculture Minister in the AINRC government formed by Rangasamy in 2011.

Puducherry Government: Know More

• Lieutenant Governor: Kiran Bedi
• Chief Minister: V. Narayanasamy (INC)
• Chief Secretary (India): Manoj Parida IAS
• Director General of Police: Sunil Kumar Gautam IPS
• Legislature: Unicameral (33*seats)

ANSWER: IANS

Explanation:
Veteran journalist Arvind Padmanabhan, Executive Editor at IANS, died of cardiac arrest.

Arvind Padmanabhan was born in 1967 at Tirunelveli, Tamul Nadu.

Padmanabhan had a long inning at IANS, joining the India Abroad newspaper that was then part of the wire service in 1999 as in-charge of its Business Section.

He was soon elevated as the Executive Editor and headed the business and economy team.

He was earlier with the PTI, The Times of India and TV18.

He was the son of G. Padmanabhan, who worked for many years with the Press Institute of India and the Indian & Eastern Newspapers Society (IENS, now INS).

IANS: Know More

• The IANS was founded by Indian American publisher Gopal Raju.
• It was founded as the India Abroad News Service.
• It was later renamed the Indo-Asian News Service.
• The IANS has main offices located in Noida.
• IANS reports about India with news, views and analyses about the country across a wide range of subjects.
• News, features and views from the subcontinent reach subscribers via the Internet.

ANSWER: India by the Nile

Explanation:
The fifth edition of the mega cultural festival India by the Nile was held in Egypt from March 8 to showcase India's diversity and the partnership between two ancient civilisations.

For the first time, the Indian flag will be projected onto the Giza Pyramids as part of the celebration.

The festival, to be held in Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Port Said and Ismaila governorates from March 8 to April 27, is the largest cultural foreign festival in Egypt.

It has been a great success in the country.

This year, India is celebrating 70 years of independence as well as 70 years of diplomatic relations with Egypt.

This year's India by the Nile Festival focuses on the youth of both countries and this will be reflected in the festival's programme, which will include the participation of India's under-16 football team, which will play two matches against Egypt's under-16 national team.

To promote Indian and Egyptian handicrafts, India will be organising a handicraft exhibition from March 8 to 14.

The exhibition is organised in partnership with the Indian Ministry of Textile; Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts, the Egyptian Ministry of Solidarity and the Federation of Egyptian Industries.

A national delegation of award-winning handicraft artisans from India will be visiting Egypt to take part in the exhibition.

The Embassy of India in Cairo, in collaboration with Teamwork Arts, presented 'Crafts Mela' as part of the IBN 2017 cultural festival.

The festival, which is a celebration of Indian music, dance, theatre, visual arts, food and wellbeing, is the largest foreign festival in Egypt showcasing 70 events across the country.

Egypt: Know More

• Capital: Cairo
• Code: +20
• Currency: Egyptian pound
• President: Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
• Official languages: Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic

ANSWER: Pratibimba

Explanation:
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on March 7, 2017 launched a comprehensive web-based platform showcasing the government’s performance and achievements to the citizens.

It has been developed as the Chief Minister’s dash board.

'Pratibimba,’ which means reflection, will serve as a tool to improve efficiency in governance and allow citizens to track government’s progress.

‘Pratibimba” is a reflection of the growth story and development of the state, and the dash board will reflect the works of all the departments across flagship schemes, key programmes and projects undertaken in the state.

The dash board is available both in English and Kannada.

Karnataka is the second state in the country after Andhra Pradesh to have such a dash board,

The information on the dash board will be updated on 10th of every month.

Karnataka: Know More

• Area: 191,791 km^²
• Capital: Bengaluru (Executive Branch)
• Population: 64.06 million (2014)
• Official bird: Indian roller

ANSWER: None of the above

Explanation:
India has been given the dubious distinction of the highest bribery rate among 16 Asia Pacific countries surveyed by Transparency International/TI

Nearly 7 in 10 Indians accessing public services paid a bribe.

This is in contrast to the least corrupt country, Japan where only 0.2% of respondents bribed individuals.

Close to half of the respondents from India were positive about the government's efforts to combat bribery.

Even as the government's efforts to tackle bribery were appreciated, slightly more than 40% of the respondents viewed that corruption had increased over the past twelve months.

63% of the respondents in India also felt that they as individuals had the power to fight corruption.

The Global Corruption Barometer for the Asia Pacific Region was released by TI on March 7, in Berlin.

Approximately 90 crore people, or just over one in four, across 16 countries in Asia Pacific, including some of its biggest economies like India and China, are estimated to have paid a bribe to access public services.

For its report - People and Corruption: Asia Pacific, part of the Global Corruption Barometer series, TI surveyed nearly 22,000 people in these countries about their recent experiences with corruption.

India was followed closely by Vietnam where around two thirds (65%) had paid a bribe when accessing public services.

Across the Asia Pacific region, just 22% of the respondents thought that corruption had decreased while 40% of the respondents (41% in India) were of the option that it was on the rise.

In mainland China, 73% of the respondents felt that the level of corruption had worsened. This was the highest of any country surveyed.

Nearly 73% of those who paid a bribe in India were from the poorer section of society, in Pakistan and Thailand this percentage was 64% and 46% respectively.

Surprisingly a reverse trend was found in some countries like China, where the richer sections were more likely to pay a bribe.

In India, respondents reported the highest bribery incident in procuring government healthcare services and even identification related documents.

Nearly 59% of the respondents had paid a bribe for such services.

Bribes paid for education were next on the list with 58% having reported doing so.

TI: Know More

• Headquarters: Berlin
• Founded: 4 May 1993
• Type of business: International non-governmental organization
• Founders: Peter Eigen, George Moody Stuart, Fritz Heimann, more
• Leaders: Cobus de Swardt, José Ugaz

ANSWER: Sarabjit

Explanation:
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was honoured with the best actress award for her performance in 'Sarbjit' at the International Film Festival and Awards of Australia (IFFAA).

In the biopic movie, the 43-year-old actress portrayed Dalbir Kaur.

She is the sister of Sarabjit Singh, fighting against the system to bring back his brother from Pakistan jail.

'Sarbjit,' based on the story of Sarbjit Singh, an Indian national who was punished by Pakistan's Supreme Court on charges of spying.

The Omung Kumar directed movie also starred Randeep Hooda, Richa Chadda and Darshan Kumar.

Sarabjit Singh: Know More

• Born: 1963, Bhikhiwind
• Died: 2 May 2013, Lahore, Pakistan
• Spouse: Sukhpreet Kaur
• Pakistani SC judgement: Capital punishment

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
The Union Science and Technology ministry is set to reproduce the monuments using three dimensional, cyber physical systems and other technologies with a view to virtually promote architectural heritage.

The project undertaken by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) - Delhi about recreating architectural heritage recreated the lost city of Hampi, 3D printed it and also embed all the information related to the monuments, sculptures, their whole history in this physical model."

One could stop, pause and ask for more information about certain elements in-there and one would get that.

ANSWER: China

Explanation:
China's largest missile maker is developing military drones with stealth abilities that can evade anti-aircraft weapons in another advance for the country's ambitious military modernisation programme.

Drones have become an indispensable weapon in modern warfare because they can play an important role in high-resolution reconnaissance, long-distance precision strikes.

They are also a critical part of anti-submarine operations and aerial combat.

This lends a new dimension to disputes in the South and East China Seas and over self-ruled Taiwan, claimed by China as a wayward province.

China has stepped up research into military drones.

Drones: Know More

• An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, unmanned aircraft system (UAS), or by several other names, is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard.
• The flight of UAVs may operate with various degrees of autonomy.
• This is either under remote control by a human operator, or fully or intermittently autonomously, by onboard computers.
• They originated mostly in military applications, although their use is expanding in commercial, scientific, recreational, agricultural.
• They are also used for other applications such as policing and surveillance, product deliveries, aerial photography, agriculture and drone racing.
• Civilian drones now vastly outnumber military drones, with estimates of over a million sold by 2015.

ANSWER: Hormoz 2

Explanation:
Iran media reported the Revolutionary Guard has successfully tested ballistic missile Hormoz 2. The missile destroyed the target from 155 miles.

The sea launched ballistic missile was tested last week. President Trump has imposed sanctions on entities or individuals who support the ballistic missile program of Iran.

Several sophisticated rockets were also launched by Iran during military exercises in the central desert of the country in February.

Iran: Know More

• Capital: Tehran
• Code: +98
• Currency: Iranian rial
• President: Hassan Rouhani
• Supreme leader: Ali Khamenei

ANSWER: Park Guen-hye

Explanation:
South Korea's Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye on March 10, 2017.

This move removes her from office over a graft scandal involving big business that has gripped the country for months.

Park becomes South Korea's first democratically elected leader to be forced from office.

A presidential election will be held in 60 days, according to the constitution.

Park Geun-hye: Know More

• Born: 2 February 1952, Samdeok-dong
• Presidential term: 25 February 2013
• Party: Liberty Korea Party

ANSWER: Hawaii

Explanation:
Attorneys for the state filed the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Honolulu.

The state had previously sued over U.S. President Donald Trump’s initial travel ban, but that lawsuit was put on hold while other cases played out across the country.

The revised executive order bars new visas for people from six predominantly Muslim countries and temporarily shuts down the US refugee program.

It doesn’t apply to travellers who already have visas.

Twenty percent of the people are foreign-born, 100,000 are non-citizens and 20 percent of the labor force is foreign-born in Hawaii.

Hawaii find the idea of a travel ban based on nationality distasteful because they remember when Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps during World War II.

Hawaii was the site of one of these camps.

US District Judge Derrick Watson granted the state’s request to continue with the case and set a hearing for March 15 the day before Mr. Trump’s order is due to go into effect.

It bars new visas for people from the six predominantly Muslim countries and temporarily shuts down the U.S. refugee program.

The order affects people from Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Libya. It does not apply to travellers who already have visas.

While Hawaii is the first to sue to stop the revised ban, the restraining order is still in place and could apply to the new one, too.

ANSWER: Poland

Explanation:
EU leaders confirmed Donald Tusk for the second term as the council president on March 9 2017. This is against opposition from native Poland which retired by seeking to hold up proceedings in joint summit.

Poland refused approving summit texts, raising unease at a time when the EU seeks unity. The crisis prone bloc is faced with a Brexit shortly.

PM Joseph Muscat of Malta holds the EU rotating presidency and indicated Poland decided to veto or not agree to the conclusions.

Poland has argued that the decision should be delayed on account of its displeasure with Tusk. Warsaw's government was isolated at the vote.

The council president chairs summits, coordinates the work of member countries and ensures that 28 nations speak with one voice on the global stage.

Poland’s nationalist government had proposed little-known Polish E.U. lawmaker Jacek Saryusz-Wolski to replace Mr. Tusk, whose current term ends May 31.

Mr. Tusk is a former prime minister who has a long and bitter rivalry with the leader of Law and Justice, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

The government argues that Mr. Tusk supports the domestic opposition in Poland and has failed to protect the country’s interests in the E.U..

Apart from Mr. Tusk, EPP politicians Jean-Claude Juncker and Antonio Tajani head the EU’s executive Commission and the European Parliament, respectively.

European Parliament: Know More

• Headquarters: Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
• Founded: 10 September 1952, Europe
• Voting systems: Party-list proportional representation, Single transferable vote, First-past-the-post voting

ANSWER: Messenger Day

Explanation:
On 9^th March 2017, the company has announced Messenger Day works like Snapchat Stories.

It lets you post photos and videos to the profile that disappear after 24 hours. A new roll of thumbnails at the top of the Messenger app will show later posts from those who are friends.

Messenger Day is now available to the app's 1 billion users worldwide.

Messenger Day also opens up a way to monetize the Messenger app. This involves getting people to use the chat bot platform for businesses in the previous year.

Facebook Revenue & Subsidiaries: Know More

• Industry: Internet
• Revenue: US$27.638 billion (2016)
• Operating income: US$12.427 billion (2016)
• Net income: US$10.217 billion (2016)
• Total assets: US$64.961 billion (2016)
• Total equity: US$59.194 billion (2016)
• Employees: 17,048 (December 31, 2016)
• Subsidiaries: Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Oculus VR
• Website: www.facebook.com or www.fb.com

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
The government has released draft guidelines for transactions carried out through pre-paid instruments like mobile wallets, smart cards and paper vouchers.

Feedback was also sought from numerous stakeholders. The Draft IT (Security of Prepaid Payment Instruments) Rules 2017 has been designed to ensure integrity, security and confidentiality of electronic payments through PPI.

MeitY has formulated draft rules for security of PPI under provisions of IT Act 2000.

Rules entail PPI should ensure end-to-end encryption of data exchange. E-PPI issuers assist customers with regard to security when it comes to PPI.

Each e-PPI issuer will have privacy policy and terms and conditions for use of payments on its website and mobile app. Both should be in simple language to promote easy understanding.

Rules mandate that each PPI company will have privacy policy posted on its website. A Chief Grievance officer whose contact details will have to be prominently displayed on the website, should act within 36 hours and resolve complaints within one month from date of complaint receipt.

A mechanism needs to be established for monitoring, handling and follow-up of cyber incidents and breaches.