Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Nov 29, 2017

ANSWER: Pradeep Singh Kharola

Explanation:
Senior IAS officer Pradeep Singh Kharola has been appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Air India.

Mr. Kharola, a Karnataka cadre officer, would replace Rajiv Bansal, who has been serving as the interim CMD for a little over three months.

The appointment comes days after Mr. Bansal was given an extension for three months.

Currently, Mr. Kharola is the Managing Director of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd.

The change of guard at the helm of Air India also comes at a time when the government is in the process of finalizing the modalities of the strategic disinvestment of the national carrier.

ANSWER: Both b and c

Explanation:
Also known as the endowment model or the Harvard model, this refers to the investment strategy followed by many popular endowment funds created by institutions like universities, hospitals and other non-profit organisations.

It emphasises the importance of diversifying an investment portfolio equally across multiple asset classes to control risk, but with a special focus on investing in alternative assets that can offer higher returns to its investors.

The Yale model was proposed and popularised by David F. Swensen, the chief investment officer of Yale University, who elaborated on it in his 2000 book Pioneering Portfolio Management.

ANSWER: Only a and b

Explanation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientists have developed a new system that can convert carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into useful fuel for cars and aircraft.

The researchers used a membrane - made of lanthanum, calcium, and iron oxide. It allows the oxygen from carbon dioxide to migrate through the membrane to the other side, leaving carbon monoxide behind.

Carbon monoxide produced during this process can be used as a fuel by itself or combined with hydrogen and/or water to make many other liquid hydrocarbon fuels.

It can also be used to produce methanol (used as an automotive fuel), syngas, and so on.

This new process could become part of the carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technologies which, if applied to electricity production, could reduce the impact of fossil fuel use on global warming.

The membrane is "100 percent selective for oxygen," allowing only those atoms to pass.

The researchers used a stream of fuel such as hydrogen or methane which get readily oxidised and draw the oxygen atoms through the membrane.

The membrane also prevents the oxygen from migrating back and recombining with the carbon monoxide, to form carbon dioxide all over again.

The method may not only cut greenhouse emissions; it could also produce another potential revenue stream to help defray its costs, researchers indicated.

ANSWER: Russia

Explanation:
Russia has agreed to assist India to set up National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC) in the country to handle disaster and other emergency situations.

This was agreed during a meeting between Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Russian Minister for Emergency Situations Vladimir Puchkov in Moscow.

Both sides agreed that EMERCOM of Russia would cooperate with India in the establishment of the National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC) in India.

India also reviewed the progress made on the agreement on disaster management signed in 2010.

The countries also agreed on a programme of training of specialists and sharing of each other's experiences as well as best practices in the field of Disaster Management.

The two leaders later signed a joint implementation plan for 2018-19 for cooperation in disaster management.

They also reviewed the implementation of the agreement on information security signed in October 2016.

Both sides also welcomed the ongoing cooperation and the regular exchange of visits between the two National Security Councils.

ANSWER: Hiroshi Marui

Explanation:
The third Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Distinguished Indologist Award for the year 2017 was awarded to Professor Hiroshi Marui of Japan.

He was presented with this award by President Ram Nath Kovind at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.

Indology is academic study of history, cultures, languages and literature of India and is a subset of Asian studies.

Professor Marui had spent over 40 years working on Indian philosophy and Buddhist studies.

His many acclaimed publications and research papers are considered a final authority on several subjects the world over.

As President of the Japanese Association of Indian and Buddhist Studies, he has made a significant contribution to Indology in Japan.

ANSWER: $4 billion

Explanation:
Multi-lateral funding agency Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced that it increase annual funding to India to up to $4 billion from existing $2.7 billion from next year to accelerate inclusive economic transformation.

As part of ADB's Country Partnership Strategy 2018-22, the multi-lateral funding agency will provide loans up to $4 billion on annual basis including non-sovereign or private debt during 2018-22.

Cumulatively, India which is the largest recipient of ADB will get about $20 billion over a period of 5 years.

ANSWER: GST Rate Cuts

Explanation:
The government has set up the National Anti-Profiteering Authority amid reports that some companies, particularly restaurants, are not passing on the benefit of the goods and services tax (GST) rate cuts to consumers.

B N Sharma, additional secretary in the department of revenue, was on 28^th Nov 2017 appointed chairman of the authority.

According to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), Sharma is an IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre of the 1985 batch. He will have the rank and pay of a Secretary in the government.

The authority under the GST regime has been constituted to ensure that the benefit of lower indirect tax rates are passed on to consumers.

The anti-profiteering measures were recently approved by the Union Cabinet and have been designed to ensure that the full benefits of input tax credits and reduced GST rates on supply of goods or services flow to the consumers.

ANSWER: Ivanka Trump

Explanation:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump's advisor and daughter Ivanka Trump jointly inaugurated 8th annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES 2017) in Hyderabad, Telangana.

The mega event was co-hosted by National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog and US Government partnership with Telangana Government.

Speaking before the prime minister, Ivanka, who is also the US president's advisor, announced when it comes to equitable laws, while many developed and developing countries have made tremendous strides, there is still much work to be done.

In some countries, women are not allowed to own property, travel freely, or work without the consent of their husbands. In some other countries, the cultural and family pressure is so great that women do not feel the freedom to work outside the home

When women work, it creates a "multiplier effect", and leads to more reinvestment in families and society.

This year's summit is focused on a theme: Women First, Prosperity for All.

The PM has also launched the MUDRA scheme to provide easy finance of up to one million rupees to entrepreneurs.

Since its launch in 2015, over 90 million loans worth 4.28 trillion rupees have been sanctioned. Of these, more than 70 million loans have been sanctioned to women entrepreneurs."

ANSWER: Amitabh Bachchan

Explanation:
The 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) was held in Panaji in Goa.

The closing ceremony was held at Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium in Bambolim.

Legendary Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan was honoured with the Indian film personality of 2017 award.

Other IFFI 2017 Winners

• Acclaimed Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan was honoured with the lifetime achievement award.
• Morocco-born French director Robin Campillo's drama film 120 BPM won the coveted Golden Peacock Award at the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI).
• The film, set in France in the 1990s, deals with homosexuality and the AIDS epidemic. The film had its India premiere at IFFI 2017.
• The Golden Peacock carries a cash prize of र40 lakh, to be shared equally between the producer and the director.
• The Best Actor (Male) Award went to Nahuel Perez Biscaryat for his portrayal of AIDS activist Sean Dalmazo. In a video address, Mr. Biscayart dedicated the award to those afflicted by HIV/AIDS.
• Chinese Vivian Qu won the Best Director Award for her 2017 film Angels Wear White.
• The Best Actor (Female) award went to Parvathy T.K. for her portrayal of a nurse who wages a battle for the release of her husband held hostage by the rebel army in war-torn Iraq in Mahesh Narayanan's Malayalam film Take Off.
• Mr. Narayanan also walked away with the Special Jury Award for the film.

ANSWER: A journal that makes false claims about research

Explanation:
Recently, the Hyderabad-based OMICS Group, which publishes over 700 journals, was in the news for its deceptive business practices.

The US-Federal Trade Commission charged OMICS with making false claims about peer reviewing and listing editors who have not agreed to be associated with the journals.

Jeffrey Beall, a librarian at the University of Colorado in Denver, first coined the term "predatory journals" and maintained a listing of predatory journals which was later taken down.

Cabell's International launched a revised version of the list called Cabell's Blacklist, which can be accessed for a fee at the company's website.

With over 4,000 predatory journals (according to Cabell's Blacklist), here are a few things to look out for and signs that give away a bogus journal.

A predatory journal is a publication that actively asks researchers for manuscripts.

They have no peer review system and no true editorial board and are often found to publish mediocre or even worthless papers.

They also ask for huge publication charges.

In research environments, there is usually more value for quantity over quality. Hiring and promotion of academics is based largely on their number of publications.

Predatory journals has helped many pseudo-researchers to prosper.

Harm Caused by Predatory Journals

• Predatory and low-quality journals corrupt the literature.
• Medical science has been particularly hit hard, with journals now devoted to unscientific medicine. Peer review is at the heart of academic evaluation.
• Publishing without peer review [while pretending that peer review was done] gives poor and mediocre academics a chance for jobs and promotions which should go to better qualified researchers