Current Affairs Questions & Answers - May 30, 2017

ANSWER: Chitradurga Karnataka

Explanation:
Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) is the first of its kind range that has been set up by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), one of the premier laboratories of the DRDO.

ADE works on a range of UAVs (unmanned air vehicles). The facility will be an integrated test centre for a cluster of DRDO’s aeronautical laboratories.

The following labs will make use of the testing facility: the Centre for Air Borne Systems, the Gas Turbine Research Establishment, the Defence Avionics Research Establishment, the Centre for Military Airworthiness & Certification, all of which are based in Bengaluru, and finally the Aerial Delivery Research & Development Establishment, which is based in Agra.

The facility is meant to conduct flight-tests of indigenous unmanned and manned aircrafts such as naval and trainer versions of the Light Combat Aircraft, the unmanned air vehicles- Rustom-I and Rustom-II (Tapas); the Airborne Early Warning & Control Systems (AEW&C), Air-to-Ground weapons, parachutes and aerostats, etc.

Karnataka, especially Bengaluru, and its tech ecosystem not only leads India, but is a leader on the global horizon.

Technology companies and their facilities located in Bengaluru are helping us create new facilities in other places in the country.

DRDO indicated the ATR, sprawling 4,090 acres, was built at a cost of INR 290 crore.

The ATR campus has 31 buildings and a 2.2km runway that can be expanded to 3km to help larger aircraft land and take off.

It has two hangers to house UAVs, radar centre, fibre-optic network, and a separate residential complex on 200 acres.

ANSWER: Zbigniew Brzezinski

Explanation:
Zbigniew Brzezinski, the National Security Adviser to former US President Jimmy Carter, passed away on 26 May 2017 in Virginia. He was 89.

Brzezinski served as the National Security Adviser to Carter during chaotic years of the Iran hostage crisis and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the late 1970s.

Born on 28 March 1928, Zbigniew Brzezinski was a Polish-American diplomat and political scientist. He served as a counsellor to former US President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968.

From 1977 to 1981, he served as President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor.

Major foreign policy events during his time in office included:

• The normalization of relations with the People’s Republic of China,
• The signing of the second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty,
• The brokering of the Camp David Accords, the transition of Iran from an important US ally to an anti-Western Islamic Republic,
• Encouraging dissidents in Eastern Europe and
  Emphasizing human rights in order to undermine the influence of the Soviet Union, among others.

He was one of the few foreign policy experts to warn against the invasion of Iraq in 2003. In 1981, President Carter presented Brzezinski with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

ANSWER: CA Bhavani Devi

Explanation:
C.A Bhavani Devi has become first Indian to win a Gold Medal in an international fencing tournament.

She has won the gold medal in the sabre event of the Turnoi Satellite Fencing Championship held at Reykjavik in Iceland.

In the final, she beat Sarah Jane Hampson of Great Britain 15-13 on points.

About C A Bhavani Devi

• Chadalavada Anandha Sundhararaman Bhavani Devi is a sabre fencer from Chennai.
• She had earlier won silver medal in another event.
• She is currently a fencing coach at Sagar Lagu’s training academy, the SAI Centre in Thalassery, Kerala. She beat Sarah Jane Hampson of Great Britain 15-13 on points, and another British fencer Jessica Corby 15-11 in the semifinal.
• Bhavani Devi became the first Indian to win a gold medal in an international fencing event.
• She had previously won a silver medal in a satellite event.
  She now trains at the Sports Authority of India centre at Thalassery.

ANSWER: Satyabrata Rout

Explanation:
Satyabrata Rout has been awarded Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar for the year 2016.

He is a professor from the Department of Theatre Arts, S N School of Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad (UoH).

He has been awarded for developing a unique method of teaching and practicing direction and design achieved from his experience working with eminent theatre practitioners and scholars.

Satyabrata Rout is considered as one of the pioneers of ‘visual theatre’ in India.

He has a rich experience of directing a number of plays, participating in national and international theatre festivals and conducting a numerous theatre workshops across the globe.

The Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar (Akademi Award) is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi. The award is the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists.

The award includes a purse of INR 50000, besides a Tamrapatra and Angavastram.

The awards are being presented in the categories of music, dance, theatre, other traditional arts and puppetry.

Sangeet Natak Akademi: Know More

• The Sangeet Natak Akademi was set up in 1953 for the promotion of performing arts.
• Setting up of Sangeet Natak Akademi is one of the main recommendations of the National conference on Dance, Drama, and Music, held in New Delhi in 1951.
• The Sangeet Natak Akademi is an Autonomous Body under the Ministry of Culture
• It acts at the national level body for the promotion and growth of Indian music, dance and drama
• It also oversees maintenance of standards of training in the performing arts and recognition of outstanding artists
• It is involved in the revival, preservation, documentation and dissemination of materials as well as instruments relating to various forms of music, dance and drama.

ANSWER: Anti-ragging

Explanation:
Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar launched an Anti-Ragging Mobile App introduced by the University Grants Commission (UGC) here in New Delhi.

The mobile app will help students register complaints to counter the menace of ragging.

Earlier one had to visit the website for registering a complaint of ragging and the record shows that timely action was taken which in turn had resulted in the decrease of such instances.

But still this ill has to be eliminated completely.

A majority of senior students actually help guide their juniors and properly mentor them, but in few cases ragging happens which needs to be completely eliminated from campuses.

This app will work on android system on which students can log in and register their complaints immediately. Accordingly all concerned will be informed immediately and action will start immediately.

It is a good step for protection and will give a feeling of security to students.

Actions of those involved in ragging will not be tolerated and they will not be allowed to continue their education in that institution.

They will also meet severe penalty and punishment as per the law.

ANSWER: Maarutha

Explanation:
The cyclonic storm ‘MORA’ over east-central Bay of Bengal moved northward during past 06 hours with a speed of 11 kmph and lay centred at 0830 hrs IST, 29th May, 2017 over east-central Bay of Bengal near Latitude 17.3ºN and Longitude 91.3ºE, about 660 km south-southeast of Kolkata and 550 km south-southwest of Chittagong.

The system is likely to intensify further into a severe cyclonic storm during next 12 hours. It is very likely to move north-northeastwards and cross Bangladesh coast between longitude 91.0ºE and 92.0ºE near Chittagong around 30th May 2017 forenoon.

Every year, the North Indian Ocean cyclone season extends roughly between April to December with two peaks in May and November.

This season includes cyclones in Bay of Bengal and Arabian sea, apart from Indian Ocean in northern hemisphere.

The first cyclone of 2017 season was Cyclone Maarutha which was formed in April, 2017 triggering heavy rainfall in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and India’s Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Apart from other damages, three people were killed in Myanmar by Cyclone Maarutha. Cyclone Mora is second such cyclone in the Indian Ocean.

Naming of Tropical Cyclone Tropical cyclones are classified into three main groups, based on intensity: tropical depressions, tropical storms, and a third group of more intense storms, whose name depends on the region. If a tropical storm in the North-western Pacific reaches hurricane-strength winds on the Beaufort scale, it is referred to as a typhoon.

If a tropical storm passes the same benchmark in the Northeast Pacific Basin, or in the Atlantic, it is called a hurricane. Neither “hurricane” nor “typhoon” is used in either the Southern Hemisphere or the Indian Ocean.

In these basins, storms of tropical nature are referred to simply as “cyclones”.

ANSWER: Darwaza Band

Explanation:
For promotion of toilet usage across the country’s villages, the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has come out with an aggressive new campaign called Darwaza Band starting May 30th, 2017.

Iconic actor, Shri Amitabh Bachchan, who leads the campaign, will be launching it.

The campaign has been supported by the World Bank and is being rolled out countrywide immediately after the launch.

It is designed to encourage behaviour change in men who have toilets but are not using them.

The campaign also features actor, Ms Anushka Sharma, who will be seen encouraging women to stand up for this issue in their villages and assume a leadership role.

Shri Bachchan has been a major supporter and ambassador for the Swachh Bharat Mission and is already associated with its ongoing campaigns.

Behaviour change has been the focus of Swachh Bharat Mission, which is being pursued through a countrywide comprehensive IEC(Information-Education-Communication) programme.

Communication campaigns have been taken up both, at the central and State levels, for promoting sustained use of toilets and for sustaining the Open Defecation Free status achieved.

ANSWER: Investing in peace around the world

Explanation:
International UN Peacekeeper's Day is celebrated world over on 29 May to honour the fallen peacekeepers and to pay tribute to those who served or are still serving in UN peacekeeping missions.

The theme for the 2017 International Day of UN Peacekeepers is “Investing in Peace Around the World”.

In 2016, 117 peacekeepers laid their life in peacekeeping missions which includes two from India. The two fallen peacekeepers from India were Rifleman Brijesh Thapa who served with the United Nations Organization Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and Sepoy Ravi Kumar who was deployed with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) this year.

A two minutes silence was observed to pay homage to the fallen peacekeepers.

India is the largest cumulative troop contributor, having provided almost 200,000 troops in nearly 50 of the 71 peacekeeping missions mandated over the past six decades, including 13 of the current 16 missions.

The event saw participation by diplomatic community, officers from ministries, veteran peacekeepers, UN Country Teams, students from prominent universities and Indian Army contingents earmarked for UN deployment which was supported by UN Information Centre in India (UNIC).

To mark the occasion, Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) and Centre for United Nations Peacekeeping (CUNPK) along with United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office organised a joint seminar on “21st Century Roadmap for Conflict Resolution by the United Nations”.

ANSWER: Bihar

Explanation:
Bihar is also focused on research to develop new varieties and techniques of litchi farming to increase its production and to share information with the Extension Division.

Bihar is the top litchi producing State in the country. In Bihar, about 300 thousand metric tonnes of litchi is being produced from 32 thousand hectares of area.

Bihar’s contribution in the production of litchi is about 40 percent. Considering the importance of litchi, National Research Centre on Litchi was established on June 6, 2001.

The contribution of Muzaffarpur district in litchi’s production is impressive, but there is a need to increase the productivity of litchi, which is currently 8.0 tonne.

For this, all the government institutions, cooperatives and farmers will have to come forward.

Scientists at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and National Research Centre on Litchi have succeeded in treating litchi and preserving it for 60 days at low temperature.

The litchi producers will have to produce superior quality fruits for which National Research Centre on Litchi has developed several techniques.

The National Research Centre on Litchi is providing about 35-40 thousand plants every year to various institutions/states in the country.

National Research Centre on Litchi is working closely with other institutions of ICAR and agricultural universities of the state and the development centres of the Central and State Governments like National Horticulture Board, APEDA, National Horticulture Mission etc.

Centre has implemented ICAR’s Farmers First project in East Champaran district. As many as 1,000 families from 8 villages (Mehsi Block-Uzhilpur, Bakri Najir, Damodarpur Village, Chakia Block- Khairwa, Ramgarha, Jishnupura, Ojha Tola- Vaishah and Chintanpur-Malahi Tola village) are reaping the benefits of several new techniques.

ANSWER: ONGC

Explanation:
Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has overtaken Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) to become India’s most profitable state-owned company.

IOC, which has for decades been India’s biggest company by turnover, posted a 70 per cent jump in net profit to INR 19,106.40 crore in the financial year ended March 31, 2017.

This was more than the INR 17,900 crore net profit ONGC posted in the 2016-17 fiscal, making IOC the most profitable PSU, according to earning statements of the companies.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries retained the crown of being India’s most profitable company for the third year in a row, posting a net INR 29,901 crore in financial year 2016-17.

Tata Consultancy Services, India’s largest software services exporter, with a net profit of INR 26,357 crore was the second most profitable company in the country.

ONGC was long India’s most profitable company but lost the crown to private sector Reliance and TCS a couple of years back. It has now been unseated as the most profitable PSU by IOC.

In the previous 2015-16 fiscal, IOC had a net profit of INR 11,242.23 crore as compared to ONGC’s INR 16,140 crore.

While IOC Chairman B Ashok attributed the profit growth to higher refining margins, inventory gains and operational efficiencies, ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Dinesh K Sarraf said the company lost INR 3,000 crore in net profit due to government’s natural gas pricing policy that has made the business economically unviable.

The BJP-led government had in October 2014 evolved a new pricing formula using rates prevalent in gas surplus nations like the US, Canada and Russia to determine rates in a net importing country.

Prices have halved to $2.48 per million British thermal unit since the formula was implemented.

Sarraf said the company lost INR 5,010 crore in revenue on natural gas business from 35 per cent drop in gas prices in last one year.

ANSWER: Dailong

Explanation:
The Manipur government has declared Dailong village of Tamenglong district as a Biodiversity Heritage Site of the state.

A notification in this connection was issued by joint secretary of forest and environment, Kengoo Zuringla.

Dialong village, covering an area of 11.35 sq km, has been declared as Biodiversity Heritage Site under Section 37(1) of Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

The declaration was made after the recommendation of Manipur Biodiversity Board, the state government said in the notification.

Dailong: Know More

• Dailong is a medium size village located in Tamenglong of Tamenglong district, Manipur with total 234 families residing.
• The Dailong village has population of 1634 of which 819 are males while 815 are females as per Population Census 2011.
• Dailong village has lower literacy rate compared to Manipur.
• In 2011, literacy rate of Dailong village was 66.37 % compared to 76.94 % of Manipur. In Dailong Male literacy stands at 71.23 % while female literacy rate was 61.46 %.
• As per constitution of India and Panchyati Raaj Act, Dailong village is administrated by Sarpanch (Head of Village) who is elected representative of village.