Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Nov 22, 2016

ANSWER: PV Sindhu

Explanation:
PV Sindhu has become the second Indian to win the China Open Super Series as she defeated Chinese player Sun Yu 21-11,17-21 and 21-11 to win the prestigious title

• The Indian badminton player used speed and agility to match the Chinese player
• She scored consecutive 8 points on her way to the game point
• It was Sindhu’s maiden China Open title
• The seventh seeded player was in good form
• The only woman from India to win the title before Sindhu was Saina Nehwal
• Nehwal won the China Open Super Series in 2014

ANSWER: Agra-Lucknow

Explanation:
Agra-Lucknow expressway, India’s longest expressway till date was inaugurated on Nov 20.

• The 302 km long six greenfield expressway is special on multiple counts from record time under which it has been completed to the fact that it will reduce travel time between the two UP cities
• The expressway will cut down travel time between Agra and Lucknow to just 3.5 hours from the current 7 hours
• The Agra-Lucknow expressway has a design speed of up to 120 km/hour
• The six lane expressway is expanded to 8 lanes- this includes 4 rail over bridges, 13 major bridges, 57 minor bridges, 148 pedestrian underpasses, 74 vehicular underpasses and 9 flyovers.
• The total expressway is planned to be lined with a metal beam crash barrier on both sides and wire fencing state-of-the-art advance traffic management system for safe and secure transit
• The expressway has been built in a record time of 23 months by the UPEIDA/ Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority
• The Agra-Lucknow expressway boasts of development centres, agricultural madness, schools, rest houses, petrol pumps, service centres and public amenities among other prominent features
• The expressway spans 10 districts, 236 villages and 3500 ha of land
• It will start in the village of Etmadpur Madra near Agra and end in Sarosa Bharosa near Mohan Road, Lucknow
• The Agra- Lucknow expressway will also be connected to the famous Yamuna expressway through the Agra ring road, boosting connectivity to Delhi and NCR areas such as Noida
• Objective of the expressway is to ensure development of closely areas, providing a fast moving corridor that permits seamless travel, reduces the carbon footprint of vehicles and helps farmers to reach their products to larger cities and attract investors in the state
• As per UPEIDA, a green belt is being developed on the sides of the Agra Lucknow expressway by planting trees on either sides and in the median

ANSWER: 21st Nov

Explanation:
The United Nation’s World Television Day is observed annually in many places across the world on Nov 21

• The day recognises that television plays a major role in presenting different issues that impact people
• On Dec 17, 1996, UNGA proclaimed Nov 21 as World Television Day to commemorate the day on which the first World Television Forum was earlier held that year
• UN invited all member states to observe the day by encouraging global exchange of television programs, focusing among other things, on issues such as peace, security, economic and social development and cultural change enhancements
• World Television Day is to renew the government, organisation and individual commitment to support the development of TV media in providing unbiased information about critical issues and events that impact society
• Educational institutions use the day to promote discussion on how televisions promote cultural diversity and common understanding, the link between democracy and television and the role of TV in social, political and economic development.

ANSWER: Both of the above

Explanation:
India on 21^st Nov became an associate member of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, the world’s largest nuclear and physics particle lab

• The agreement was signed by DAE Secretary and Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission, Sekhar Basu and CERN DG Dr. Fabiola Gianotti
• In 2015, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal for India officially entering the Geneva based body following which the CERN Council accepted India has an associate member
• India has observer status till Sept 2016 when CERN Council adopted the resolution upgrading its position
• Three major activities in the lab- acceleration, detection and computing are areas where Indian scientists excel
• An associate membership of CERN will enhance participation of young scientists and engineers in various CERN projects
• Indian industries will also participate directly in CERN projects; industries can now bag contracts for specified requirement of CERN
• After becoming an associate member, India also contributes certain money for research activities
• Annual contribution of 11.5m Swiss Franc from Indian government to CERN involves the associate membership
• Membership comes at a time when criticism within the scientific community over the delay in India accepting the membership
• Pakistan was an associate member since 2014
• The organisation is the world’s largest nuclear and particle physics lab where scientists and engineers have probed the fundamental structure of the Universe using sophisticated scientific instruments and advanced computing systems
• CERN currently has 22 member states, 4 associate member states and observer status is given to 4 states and 3 International organisations

ANSWER: 65 million years ago

Explanation:
Asteroid that ended the age of dinosaurs 65 million years ago may have punctured the earth’s crust and caused the surface of the planet to behave like slow moving fluid, as per a new study

• Finding may reveal how such impact can reshape the face of the planet and generate new habitats for life
• Major craters sometimes possess rings of rocky hills on their centre known as peak rings
• Many of these rings exist on ET rocky bodies such as Earth and Venus and are tough to analyse
• To learn more about peak rings, scientists studied the Chicxulub crater in Mexico which measures more than 180 km across
• It is the only crater with the intact peak ring on earth
• Crater resulted from the crash of an object 10 km wide 65 million years ago believed to have ended the age of the dinosaurs
• The researchers discovered that granite likely was deeply buried for 500 million years
• Following the impact, the earth behaved like a slow moving fluid - the asteroid may also have impacted the thickness of the earth’s crust
• It would have opened up a hole in the crust almost 30 km deep and 80 to 100 km wide.

ANSWER: Both a and b are the same

Explanation:
Faraaz Ayaaz Hossain, a Bangladeshi hostage killed in the terror attack at a Dhaka Cafe in Gulshan diplomatic zone on July 1, was awarded the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice for 2016.

• The award was posthumously conferred by the Harmony Foundation, marking the first time this has been done so
• Foundation said it considers it its most humble privilege to posthumously honour Faaraz Ayaaz Hossain, who stood by and refused to leave his friends when terrorists attacked and paid with his life
• Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Faraaz’s mother Simeen Hossain said, “Those who have killed my son were devils, terrorists. And my son, who stood by his friends defying death, represented true Islam.”
• The International award in memory of late Mother Teresa was first introduced in 2005 and Medecines Sans Frontieres, the largest volunteer medical organisation worldwide, receiving it that year.
• Other winners of this award include Malala Yousufzai, Mahathir Mohammad, Dalai Lama and Caroline Cox.

ANSWER: Nicolas Sarkozy

Explanation:
French voters defied expectations on 20^th Nov by eliminating ex president Nicolas Sarkozy out of the race to be a conservative nominee for the presidential election and propelling ex PM Francois Fillon to the top spot

• A social conservative with economically liberal ideas, Fillon will face Alain Juppe in a runoff on Nov 27, which will produce the next president of France in May
• Juppe a moderate 71-year-old conservative campaigning on inclusive happy identity platform has been leading the presidential polls
• With the Left very divided and a majority of voters telling pollsters they are opposed to seeing the far-right National Front in power, the chosen centre-right nominee is likely to defeat Le Pen in an expected election run-off next May.
• Polls have shown Juppe would easily beat Le Pen
• According to results based on 9,437 polling stations out of a total 10,229, Fillon was seen garnering 44.2 percent of the votes, Juppe 28.5 percent and Sarkozy 20.6 percent, with close to 4 million votes counted.
• Francois Hollande is yet to announce whether he would stand for elections

ANSWER: INS Chennai

Explanation:
INS Chennai, a Kolkata-class destroyer ship, was commissioned into the Indian Navy's combat fleet on Monday.

• This is the largest ever warship to be built in India
• Created at the Mazgaon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd in Mumbai, the ship’s construction marks the end of the project 15A to build the Kolkata class guided missile destroys
• Ship was equipped with a decoy to divert missile attacks
• Ship also is designed to carry and operate up to two multi role combat helicopters
• Navy is planning to become a 200 warship force with 600 aircrafts and helicopters by 2027
• INS Chennai will be placed in the Western Naval Command
• INS Chennai is 164m long with a displacement of over 7,500 tonnes, and sails at a top speed of over 30 knots per hour.
• Armed with supersonic surface-to-surface BrahMos missiles and Barak-8 Long Rang Surface-to-Air missiles, undersea warfare capability includes indigenously developed anti-submarine weapons
• It also includes sensors, prominently the hull-mounted sonar HUMSA-NG, heavyweight torpedo tube launchers, rocket launchers and towed array sonar capability.
• For defence against enemy missiles, INS Chennai is fitted with:
• ‘Kavach' chaff decoy system
• 'Mareech' torpedo decoy system,
• Both have been developed in India.
• A strong platform capable of undertaking a variety of tasks and missions spanning the full spectrum of maritime warfare, INS Chennai can carry and operated two multi-role helicopters.
• INS Chennai is propelled by a powerful combined gas and propulsion plant consisting of 4 reversible gas turbines.
• The ship's crest depicts Fort St George of Chennai in the background, a part of the adjacent beach and a sloop on blue and white waves.
• The crew of the ship abides by the Sanskrit motto 'Shatro Sanharaka' meaning Vanquisher of Enemies, epitomising the spirit of the warrior to succeed in combat