Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Nov 12, 2016

ANSWER: Guy Ryder

Explanation:
Guy Ryder on 7th November 2016 was re-elected as the Director General of the International Labour Organisation for another 5 year term.

• He will assume the post on Oct 1, 2017
• Ryder obtained 54 of the 56 votes cast by the titular members
• He was the only candidate for the post
• He is the 10th DG of the International Labour Organisation
• From 2006-2010, he served as General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation
• The ILO is a UN agency dealing with labour issues
• It has around 187 member states
• In the 1960s, the organisation received the Nobel Peace Prize for improving peace amidst the classes, pursuing decent work and justice for workers as well as technical assistance to developing nations
• ILO also registered complaints against entities violating global laws; it did not impose sanctions on the governments however

ANSWER: Unconstitutional

Explanation:
The Supreme Court of India held that Punjab Government’s 2004 law, terminating the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal water sharing agreement as unconstitutional

• Court has also held that the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004 is unconstitutional and Punjab could not have taken a unilateral decision to terminate the water sharing agreement with neighbouring states.
• Punjab State Legislature has also passed the act to escape from the duty of constructing its section of the canal link and sharing waters with neighbouring states
• Presidential reference regarding the same was made in 2004 by president APJ Abdul Kalam seeking legal clarity on the sharing of water from the SYL canal between N. Indian states following which it was taken up for hearing by the SC in March 2016
• The bench headed by Justice AR Dave ruled that the 5 questions contained in the Presidential reference have been answered in the negative
• SC rules that Punjab’s unilateral decision to terminate water sharing agreements with Haryana, HP, Rajasthan, J&K, Delhi and Chandigarh was unconstitutional
• Bench further held that the 2004 Act overrode the 2003 SC judgement that mandated the construction of the canal
• Using the act, the Congress government headed by Capt. Amarinder Singh nullified the ruling and agreed to proceed construction of the canal
• Bench reserved its verdict on the issue on 12th May 2016 following the central government maintaining its earlier neutral stand of 2004 that states concerned should settle their disputes among themselves.
• SC has also appointed the Union Home Secretary and Punjab Chief Secretary and DGP as joint receivers of land and other property focused on SYL canal till the judgement’s final outcome
• Punjab passed the Punjab Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal land (Transfer of Proprietary Right) Bill 2016
• In 2016, Punjab assembly also sought to pass the bill commanding restoration of land acquired to build the canal link to the farmers free of cost.
• Move was contested by the Haryana government at SC and a stay of the order was won.
• Amarinder Singh, under whom the law was passed, has sent his resignation to the LS Speaker and declared that the MLAs will be following suit to protest against the injustice done to the state.
• Singh demanded imposition of President’s rule in the state, voicing concerns against the Badal government after the court order
• Legal action will be decided after consulting the advocate general of the state
• Punjab cabinet has decided to convene a special session of the Punjab Assembly on 16^th Nov 2016 to discuss the matter

ANSWER: Competition Commission of India

Explanation:
The International Competition Network on 9th Nov 2016 announced that the Competition Commission of India will host the 2018 ICN Annual Conference

• The conference will be held in Delhi in March-April 2018
• CCI has also been inducted as an ex-officio member of the steering group member of the ICN for 3 years
• The Competition Commission of India was set up on 14th Oct 2003 to prevent practices having adverse effects on competition
• This aims at promoting and protecting interests of consumers to ensure freedom of trade carried out by other participants in markets in India
• It has gained full functionality in May 2009
• The Competition Commission of India’s first Chairman was Dhanendra Kumar
• It has been a member of the ICN since 2003
• International Competition Network is an informal, virtual network that facilitates cooperation between competition law authorities internationally
• The International Competition Network was established in 2001 after the publication of the Final Report of the International Competition Policy Advisory Committee to the US Attorney General and Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust
• It comprises 132 members from 120 competition jurisdictions devoted to international competition enforcement
• The Annual Conference has been hosted by a member competition agency
• Last such conference was hosted by Competition Commission of Singapore in April 2016
• The next conference in May 2017 is the Portuguese Competition Authority

ANSWER: Smart India Hackathon

Explanation:
Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on 10th Nov 2016 inaugurated Smart India Hackathon 2017, world’s largest digital national building initiative

• Government of India has also launched the first set of 250 problem statements that students will be required to solve during the Hackathon which will take place in early 2017
• Smart India Hackathon 2017 aims at reaching out to the technology institutions in India and challenge students to offer innovative solutions for problems faced by the nation
• All India Council for Technical Education, University Grants Commission 14c, MyGov, NASSCOM , Rambhau Mhlagi Prabhodini and Persistent Systems have organised the initiative under the Ministry of HRD
• The Hackathon will have nearly 500 problem statements, all of which will be published on innovate.mygov.in
• An all India 36-hour nonstop digital programming competition, it will take place in more than 20 centres simultaneously
• Each participating college will nominate up to three teams, each having six team members that can belong to different courses or semesters within the same college
• The team will also need to have one female team member, to encourage women coders
• Some ministries and departments participating in the Hackathon include Railways, External Affairs, Defence, Civil Aviation, ISRO, DAE etc
• It will help to find digital solutions to problems in areas of power, education, finance, health, water, agriculture, energy, urban and rural development, aviation, transport, sanitation, sports, law and justice
• It will help to institutionalise a model for harnessing creativity and skills of the youth for nation building

ANSWER: Thailand

Explanation:
India, Myanmar and Thailand Friendship Motor Car Rally 2016 will be flagged off on 13th Nov 2016

• To improve the connectivity by road in SE Asian region and sensitise the stakeholders of the agreement regarding potential benefits of such a regulatory regime, a Friendship Motor Car Rally from Delhi to Bangkok will be organised from 13 Nov to 3 Dec, 2016
• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India has initiated a significant step for negotiating a Trilateral Motor Vehicle Agreement among India, Myanmar and Thailand
• This Trilateral Motor Vehicle Agreement will regulate seamless movement of both passenger and cargo vehicles among three countries through provision of a regulatory regime for mutual recognition of documents and harmonisation of procedures and related standards
• The implementation of the IMT Trilateral Highway along with the regulatory framework in the proposed IMT MVA for movement of vehicles of the 3 countries on this route, forming part of the India Act East Policy

ANSWER: Lakshmi

Explanation:
Endearing, interactive and excellent with data, India’s first banking robot Lakshmi has made her debut on 10th Nov in Chennai

• Launched by Kumbakonam based City Union Bank, the artificial intelligence powered robot will be the first on-site bank helper
• Top private lender HDFC Bank which is also experimenting with robots to answer customer queries is testing its humanoid at its innovation lab.
• Lakshmi who took more than six months to develop can answer queries on more than 125 subjects
• Sensitive financial information such as account details are discreetly on the robot’s screen and not voiced
• City Union will aim at programming the humanoid to greet customers in Tamil

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
National Green Tribunal has indicated on 10th Nov that when air pollution reaches severe levels, Delhi and neighbouring states will have to take the following measures:

• Sprinkling water from choppers
• Stopping construction activities
• Shutting down polluting power plants and gen-sets
• Passing a host of directions to tackling air pollution in Delhi and neighbouring states, the NGT also asked for the setting up of central and 5 state-level monitoring committee to check implementation of orders and form action plans to check pollution
• When PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels cross 251 and 431 micrograms cubic metre, it is an environment emergent said the NGT chairperson Swantanter Kumar
• The chairperson also said measures would have to be implemented to tackle the situation
• Farmers must be given happy seeders-machines that sow wheat without burning paddy residues
• This is to prevent crop fires.
• During the period of severe air pollution, all construction, transport of construction material and stone crushing activities must be stopped
• States will have to shut down power plants, hot-mixers, brick kilns, diesel generator sets whose emissions are above the prescribed limit, according to an interim order for NGT
• The NGT also asked 4 neighbouring states of Delhi- Haryana, Punjab, UP and Rajasthan- to consider banning diesel vehicles older than 10 years while directing Delhi to ensure strict implementation of orders on diesel vehicles.
• Tribunal also asked Delhi government why they did not install air filters in schools for children as instructed

ANSWER: Regenerate

Explanation:
In a massive breakthrough, a team of scientists has identified two chemicals that can develop heart cells that beat harder, faster and stronger bringing technology one step closer to regenerating damaged hearts

• Scientists tested 5,500 chemicals and identified two that can transform a scar tissue into a healthy beating heart muscle- which improves treatments for heart failures.
• The two chemicals increased eightfold the number of heart cells created as well as sped up the process of cell conversion, attaining in one week what takes 6-8 weeks
• After suffering a heart attack, the connective tissues develop scar tissue, which then contribute to heart failure
• When the heart muscle gets damaged, the body is unable to repair dead or injured cells
• As per the researchers, the first chemical inhibits a growth factor that helps cells grow and divide and is important for repairing tissues after injury
• The second chemical inhibits an important pathway that regulates heart development
By combining the two chemicals with the current method of reprogramming connective tissue cells into heart muscle cells through certain proteins, the researchers have generated heart muscle and improved heart function.

ANSWER: Russia

Explanation:
The Russian court on 10th Nov 2016 upheld a decision to block the website of social networking company LinkedIn

• Russia’s Roskomnadzor communications group has said LinkedIn which has more than 6 million registered users in Russia, was violating a law requiring websites which store personal data of Russian citizens to do so on Russian servers
• Moscow indicated that the law introduced in 2014 but never previously enforced, is aimed at protecting Russian personal data
• Critics indicated this was an attack on social networking in a country which has tightened control over the internet in recent years
• Moscow’s Tagansky District Court ruled in August that LinkedIn site should be blocked, but the decision has not come into force pending a company appeal
• While some companies such as online reservation site booking.com has indicated they will transfer data to Russian servers, it is unclear whether others like Google and FB will comply with the Russian law

ANSWER: India and Japan Vision 2025

Explanation:
PM Modi is currently on an official visit at the invitation of HE Shinzo Abe, Japan’s PM. A joint statement was released by the two premiers following discussion

• They took a comprehensive review of the Special Strategic and Global Partnership as outlined in the India and Japan Vision 2025 set forth in Dec 2015
• The joint statement stressed on building a stronger partnership for a safer and stable world through "2+2” Dialogue, Defence Policy Dialogue, Military-to-Military Talks and Coast Guard-to-Coast Guard co-operation.
• The two premiers also discussed Make in India, Digital India, Skill India, Smart City, Startup India and Swach Bharat
• The two PMs also welcomed the Japan-India Energy Partnership led by Japan-India 8th Energy Dialogue held in Jan 2016
• The two ministers also stressed the need for cooperation in tourism and a MOC in the field of cultural exchange
• The India-Japan dialogue to promote cooperation in Africa, South Asia and neighbouring areas through bilateral and trilateral cooperation in the development of infrastructure and connectivity
• The two PMs welcomed the holding of trilateral dialogue among Japan, India and the US
• ASEAN-led fora such as ASEAN Regional Forum, ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus, Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum and coordination of their actions to tackle global and regional challenges including maritime security, terrorism and violent extremism, and climate change were also emphasised
• Cyber cooperation and the North Korea question were also part of the discussions and the joint statement