Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Nov 07, 2017

ANSWER: 2

Explanation:
India had to wait long for their second Women's Asia Cup title with the last one coming way back in 2004

India edged past China 5-4 via shootout to win the women's Asia Cup hockey title here on Sunday. With this, India also qualified for next year's World Cup as Continental champion.

It was skipper Rani Rampal who scored the winning goal while Savita Punia made a great save in sudden death.

Savita was adjudged Goalkeeper-of-the-Tournament while Monica won the Woman-of-the-Match award.

Final: India 1 (Navjot Kaur) bt China 1 (Tiantian Luo) in shootout.
Third place: Korea 1 (Hyejeong Shin) bt Japan 0.

ANSWER: Beidou-3

Explanation:
China has launched the first of its most powerful generation of navigational satellites as part of efforts to expand the global reach of its rival to GPS and to cut reliance on overseas systems.

The launch of the two Beidou-3 satellites in Sichuan on 5th Nov 2017 after months of delays represents the start of a major upgrade to China's home-grown navigational strength.

The satellites are among more than 30 China plans to send up over the next three years to create a network that will be able to support military operations around the world without relying on competitors such as the US-developed GPS or Russia's GLONASS.

There are already more than 20 earlier Beidou versions in orbit but their coverage is limited to China and the region.

China to launch new GPS rival satellites 'accurate to within millimetres', website says.

The expanded system will also have a wide range of civilian applications, from smartphones to self-driving cars.

Scientists involved in the project also said the new system would give civilian users an accuracy of 2.5 metres to five metres, putting it on a par with existing GPS technology.

The Chinese military and some government users would be able to use encrypted signals for millimetre precision, the scientists said.

China has built more than 1,500 Beidou ground stations across the country to improve the system's accuracy. It also plans to set up similar bases in dozens of countries including Pakistan and Thailand to extend the high-precision service to military and government users overseas.

ANSWER: Catapult based aircraft launch mechanism

Explanation:
The Navy is likely to go with an advanced catapult-based aircraft launch mechanism (CATOBAR) from the U.S. for its second indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC-II), which is on the drawing board.

For some time, India has been exploring the possibility of installing the U.S. electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS).

IAC-II will have a CATOBAR launch. However, the kind of propulsion is yet to be decided.

The U.S. has offered India its latest EMALS technology, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., which has just been installed on the Gerald Ford carrier.

While the older generation of CATOBAR was powered by a steam catapult, EMALS uses an electric motor-driven catapult instead, which allows the launch of much heavier aircraft and also reduces the stress on the aircraft.

However, the system is expensive, something that needs to be factored in.

The Navy envisages the IAC-II to be around 65,000 tonnes and capable of carrying over 50 aircraft.

While the Navy is keen on nuclear propulsion, which would give it unlimited range and endurance, its development in time seems doubtful.

The two countries had set up a joint working group on Aircraft Carrier Technology Cooperation (JWGACTC) under the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative, which held several rounds of discussions.

The group concluded its 4th meeting in New Delhi last Friday.

India's first domestic carrier, Vikrant, weighing 40,000 tonnes, is in an advanced stage of construction in Kochi and is scheduled to be launched by 2018-end. It works on a Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery (STOBAR) mechanism similar to that in the present carrier INS Vikramaditya, with an angular ski-jump.

ANSWER: Paradise Papers

Explanation:
Revelations made today in the media under the name 'Paradise Papers' [based upon expose done by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)] indicate that out of 180 countries represented in the data of offshore entities held by persons of different nationalities, India ranks 19th in terms of number of names.

714 Indians reportedly appear in the tally.

The Paradise Papers include nearly 7 million loan agreements, financial statements, emails, trust deeds and other paperwork over nearly 50 years from inside Appleby, a prestigious offshore law firm with offices in Bermuda and beyond.

The leaked documents include files from the smaller, family-owned trust company, Asiaciti (Singapore), and from company registries in 19 secrecy jurisdictions.

The Investigation units of the Income Tax Department (ITD) have been alerted to take note of revelations for immediate appropriate action.

It has been reported that many cases of offshore entities are already under investigation on fast track. As soon as further information surfaces, swift action as per law will follow.

Further, the Government has directed that investigations in cases of Paradise Papers will be monitored through a reconstituted Multi Agency Group, headed by the Chairman, CBDT, having representatives from CBDT, ED, RBI & FIU.

ANSWER: Hasmukh Adhia

Explanation:
Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia has been designated as the new Finance Secretary, an official order said on Nov 7, 2017.

Adhia is a 1981 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre.

The vacancy was caused following the superannuation of Ashok Lavasa last month.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved designating Adhia as the Finance Secretary, the order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training said.

As per the convention, the senior most Secretary in the Finance Ministry is designated as the Finance Secretary.

There are five departments under the Finance Ministry- Expenditure, Economic Affairs, Financial Services, Revenue and Department of Investment and Public Asset management (DIPAM).

IAS officer Rajiv Kumar of 1984 batch is the Financial Services Secretary. Ajay Narayan Jha is Expenditure Secretary and Neeraj Kumar Gupta Secretary, DIPAM. Both are 1982 batch IAS officers.

Subhash Chandra Garg, a 1983 batch IAS officer, is Economic Affairs Secretary.

ANSWER: 91%

Explanation:
Indian engineering exports are benefiting from an impressive turnaround in demand in most of the developed economies especially the U.S., which accounted for an annual growth of 91% in shipments in September this fiscal, according to an analysis by EEPC India, the apex body for Indian engineering exporters.

The U.S. continued to be the topmost exporting destination for India's engineering products in September 2017, registering a huge expansion both on monthly as well as on cumulative basis during April-September 2017-18 over the same period last fiscal.

While the shipments of engineering exports to the US went up by a whopping 91% to $1.53 billion in September, 2017 from $551 million in the same month last fiscal, the April-September exports had gone up over by 47% to $4.79 billion from $3.25 billion in the first half of the previous fiscal.

Since the demand pick up, particularly in iron and steel, all ferrous and non-ferrous metals, is evident in the global market, the exports are expected to remain buoyant.

All European nations falling under the top 25 engineering export destinations like Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherland, France and Poland also recorded considerable growth.

Engineering exports to Germany saw a jump of over 67% to $288 million in September, 2017 over $172 million in the same month last fiscal.

Likewise, the shipments to Italy rose by 30% to $209 million from $161 million.

ANSWER: None of the above

Explanation:
Scientists had thought that there were two orangutan species: the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) and the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus).

However, the physical and genetic data now show that an isolated population of orangutans in Batang Toru, a region within the three Tapanuli districts in the province of North Sumatra, represents a distinct species.

Tapanuli orangutans were morphologically different from all other orangutans.

The researchers also reconstructed the history of the Tapanuli population.

Their calculations show that the population appears to have been isolated from all other Sumatran populations for at least 10,000 to 20,000 years.

The oldest evolutionary line in the genus Pongo is actually found in Tapanuli orangutans, which appear to be direct descendants of the first Sumatran population in the Sunda archipelago.

ANSWER: Delhi, India

Explanation:
President Ramnath Kovind launched the 21st World Congress of Mental Health, organised by the World Federation for Mental Health in partnership with Caring Foundation and other institutions.

He added that the biggest obstacle mental health patients encounter is stigma and denial.

A major gap in combating the mental health challenge, experts said, is that of human resource. India has 1.25 billion people but just 700,000 doctors - less than one million.

In the field of mental health, the scarcity is even more acute. There are only about 5,000 psychiatrists and less than 2,000 clinical psychologists in the country.

The President said that India's National Mental Health Programme is building 22 centres of excellence in the field of mental health.

The District Mental Health Programme has already covered 517 of 650 districts in India. It is taking the conversation about mental health to the grass-root of society.

The World Congress of Mental Health will comprise key sessions such as those on terrorism and mental health care; the Mental Health Care Act, 2017; role of films and mental healthcare; spirituality and guru as therapist; Vishwa Samvad, which is a global dialogue across stakeholders, including patients and caregivers; sports and mental health; and youth and mental healthcare.

ANSWER: Ladakh

Explanation:
In a major feat, the Border Roads Organization (BRO) has constructed the world's highest motorable road in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.

This road is passing through Umling La Top at a height of over 19,300 feet.

The feat was achieved under "Project Himank" of the BRO.

Being close to Hanle, the 86-km-long strategic road through Umling La Top connects Chisumle and Demchok villages, located 230km from Leh.

These villages are very close to the India-China border in eastern sector, a spokesman of BRO said.

Constructing the road at the altitude of over 19,300 feet was filled with life threatening challenges. He said the climate at the location is always adverse for construction activities.

During peak summers, temperature hovers around minus 10-20 degrees Celsius, and in winters, it dips to minus 40 degrees.
Oxygen level at the altitude is 50% less than at normal places.

Efficiency of machines and manpower declines by 50% due to harsh climate and less oxygen level. Also, machine operators have to come down every 10 minutes for oxygen.

The Project Himank has already constructed roads like Khardung La at an altitude of 17,900 ft and Chang La Pass at 17,695 ft in Leh by connecting Nubra valley and Durbuk valley in the cold desert.

ANSWER: A1689B11

Explanation:
Scientists have discovered the most ancient spiral galaxy in the universe that existed almost 11 billion years ago.

The spiral galaxy could provide insights into the early cosmos, believe scientists.

The galaxy, known as A1689B11, existed just 2.6 billion years after the Big Bang, when the universe was only one-fifth of its present age.

Researchers used a powerful technique that combines gravitational lensing with the Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrograph (NIFS) on the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii to verify the vintage and spiral nature of the galaxy.

Gravitational lenses are nature's largest telescopes, created by massive clusters composed of thousands of galaxies and dark matter.

The cluster bends and magnifies the light of galaxies behind it in a manner similar to an ordinary lens, but on a much larger scale.

Spiral Galaxy: Know More

• Spiral galaxies are exceptionally rare in the early universe, and this discovery opens the door to investigating how galaxies transition from highly chaotic, turbulent discs to tranquil, thin discs like those of our own Milky Way galaxy.
• This galaxy is forming stars 20 times faster than galaxies today ? as fast as other young galaxies of similar masses in the early universe.
• However, unlike other galaxies of the same epoch, A1689B11 has a very cool and thin disc, rotating calmly with surprisingly little turbulence.
• This type of spiral galaxy has never been seen before at this early epoch of the universe.