Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Nov 04, 2016

ANSWER: 175 GW

Explanation:
Union Government in Nov 2016 has taken the decision to launch USD 2 billion dollar clean energy equity fund.

• The fund is being created to support the ambitious target of adding 175 GW renewable energy generation capacity by 2022.
• Government has decided to launch the fund jointly with state power entities namely National Thermal Power Corporation Limited, Rural Electrification Corporation and Power Finance Corporation Limited.
• The New and Renewable Energy Ministry has initiated this project.
• Report also indicated that seed funding will be done by the Union government for this fund.
• The funding will be from the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund.
• Government of India will also collect 4 billion USD per year in the next 3-4 years for the clean energy fund.
• Government of India is also planning a USD 1 billion dollar PE fund for the renewable energy sector.

ANSWER: Sin

Explanation:
India took a step forwards rolling a unified Goods and Services Tax with the Centre and states agreeing on a 4 slab structure– 5,12,18 and 28 percent–along with a cess on luxury and sin goods such as tobacco.

• The Centre had proposed a 4 tier system- 6,12,18 and 26 percent along with a 4 percent levy on gold.
• The final rate structure had brought down the lowest slab by one percentage point to 5 percent while raising the highest rate by 2 percentage points to 28 percent.
• Around 50 percent of the items in the retail inflation basket primarily food items will be kept out of GST.
• There will be zero tax on such items.
• A lower tax slab of 6 percent is proposed for those essential commodities on which no excise duty is levied at present by the Centre but a 5 percent VAT is levied by the states.
• There will be two standard rates of 12 and 18 percent which will be applicable to many taxable goods.
• Effective tax on most white goods such as refrigerators is between 30 to 31 percent including 12.5 percent central excise duty, state value added tax of 14.5 percent and cascading effect of about 4 percentage points.
• Following GSTm the effective tax rate on most of the goods will come down to 28 percent.
• Additional revenue generated by raising the peak rate from the earlier proposed 28 to 28 percent will be set off against the revenue loss from slashing the lowest rate to 5 percent from 6 percent.
• The number of goods were transferred from the 28 percent to the 18 percent category.
• A decision on tax on gold has been left aside for now.

ANSWER: Ooty

Explanation:
The world’s largest and most sensitive cosmic ray monitor located in India has recorded a burst of galactic cosmic ray indicating a crack in the magnetic shield of the earth.

• The burst occurred when a giant cloud of plasma ejected from the solar corona struck the earth at very high speeds.
• This caused massive compression of the earth’s magnetosphere.
• It triggered a severe geomagnetic storm.
• GRAPES-3 muon telescope located at TIFR’s Cosmic Ray lab in Ooty in TN recorded a burst of galactic cosmic rays of 20 GeV in 2015 lasting for two hours.
• The burst occurred when a giant cloud of plasma ejected from the solar corona moving with the speed of 2.5 million kmh struck our planet, causing severe compression of earth’s magnetosphere from 11 to 4 times the radius of the Earth.
• A severe geomagnetic storm that generated the aurora borealis and radio signal blackouts in many high latitude countries.
• Earth’s magnetosphere extends over a radius of a million km acting as the first line of defence.
• It shields planet earth from solar and galactic cosmic rays thus protecting life on the planet from high intensity energetic radiations.
• The crack is temporary only.
• It occurred due to the magnetic reconnection allowing lower energy galactic cosmic ray particles to enter the atmosphere.
• Earth’s magnetic field bent these particles by 180 degrees from the day side to the night side of the earth, when it was found by the GRAPES-3 muon telescope in June 2015.
• Solar storms cause major disruption to human civilisation by crippling large electrical power grids, GPS and satellite operations and communications.

ANSWER: James Webb Space Telescope

Explanation:
NASA has successfully completed building its largest space telescope, 100 times more powerful than the Hubble probe.

• This may find galaxies formed in the early universe.
• The James Webb Space Telescope will be succeeding NASA’s 26 year old Hubble Space Telescope.
• The Webb Telescope’s infrared cameras are so sensitive that it will have to be shielded from the rays of the Sun.
• A 5-layer sunshield of the size of a tennis court will prevent the background heat from the Sun from interfering with the infrared sensors of the telescope.
• Five sunshield membrane layers are each as thin as human hair.
• Layers work together to reduce the temperature between the hot and cold sides of the observatory by 298 degree C.
• Each successive layer of the sunshield made of kapton is cooler than the one below.
• Webb has been designed to withstand the launch environment - it must be tested to verify it will indeed survive and not change in ways least expected.
• This is one test of the entire mirror where the same equipment can be used during, before and after the test.
• The telescope is a joint project of NASA, ESA and Canadian Space Agency.

ANSWER: Padma Shri

Explanation:
Eminent Sri Lankan singer and composer Pandit Amaradeva who has won many honours including Padma Shri died on 3rd Nov at 88.

• He was known for his contribution to the world of music.
• Pandit Amaradeva, born Wannakuwatta Waduge Don Albert Perera, was inspired by classical Indian ragas and Sri Lankan music.
• The musician has been the recipient of several awards including Ramon Magsaysay Award, Padma Shri and Sri Lankan President’s Award of Kala Keerthi and Deshmanya Award.

ANSWER: Both of the above

Explanation:
Two days after Twitter’s India head Rishi Jaitly resigned, MD for SE Asia, India and MENA region Parminder Singh announced he quit the company.

• Maya Hari has been announced as the new MD for SE Asia and India reporting to Aliza Knox, Vice President Asia Pacific.
• To realign future goals and cut costs, Twitter has reduced nine percent of its workforce.
• Twitter India head Rishi Jaitly also quit the company recently.
• Twitter cut 300 jobs in 2015 after Dorsey took over as CEO full-time.
• Twitter has 3860 employees as of June 30 this year and paid out USD 168 million in stock based compensation in Q2.

ANSWER: Canadian

Explanation:
Kolkata born Sarabjit Singh Marwah on 2nd Nov 2016 became the first Sikh to be appointed to the Canadian senate.

• Toronto based Marwah is among six people from Ontario who have been appointed to the Senate by PM Justin Trudeau.
• Born in 1952, the Kolkata origin Sikh has completed his graduation from St. Stephen’s College and an MBA degree from UCLA.

ANSWER: Co-Innovation Network

Explanation:
TATA Consultancy Services, India’s largest IT services provider has said University of New South Wales Australia has signed an MoU to pursue technology research collaboration.

• The agreement will enable University of New South Wales and TCS to work in areas of common interest such as machine learning, CR, robotics, data analytics and cloud computing.
• The MoU also opens up research on scholar exchange and internship for students from UNSW.
• TCS has formed an alliance with UNSW and deepens ties with Australia’s academic research community.
• This is part of the COIN or Co-Innovation Network.