Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Oct 01, 2015

ANSWER: 7.5

Explanation:
Fitch Ratings has said in its Global Economic Outlook report that GDP growth in the first quarter had slowed from 7.5% to 7% in the preceding quarter based on moderating private consumption growth as well as lower net exports. India is one of the fastest BRICS nations with 7.5 investment. This estimate comes after RBI revised downwards real GDP forecast for 2015-2016 to 7.4% from earlier estimate of 7.6% indicating growth is expected to be picked up in the latter stage of the fiscal. Below average rainfall caused during this year’s monsoon season recorded at 14 percent under average is likely to somewhat grow. Agriculture constitutes 18% of India’s GDP. Regarding the China slowdown, India will be less affected by falling demand, Fitch said.

ANSWER: Both are same

Explanation:
The campaign was initiated by the government to increase the accessibility of the physical environment in the country. In addition, the campaign focuses on enhancing the accessibility and usability of Public Transport, and information & communication. The department has planned to make public buildings in 50 cities of the country including four cities of Maharashtra namely Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur accessible to PwDs. States will pick at least 50-100 public buildings that will be made accessible to PwDs via retrofitting of ramps, lifts, toilets and signage.

ANSWER: Kartik Chandran

Explanation:
Kartik Chandran, Indo-American associate professor of earth and environmental engineering at Columbia Engineering was named a 2015 MacArthur Fellow on 29th September 2015. He was also provided a genius grant of ISD 625,000 for working on research solutions to world’s need for energy, clean water and food. He is an IIT Roorkee graduate and his previous research includes using microbes to turn waste water into drinking water and fertilizer energy. He has previously received grants from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2011 and the Water Environment Research Foundation Paul L. Busch Award (2010), a National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2009) and a National Academies of Science Fellowship (2007). MacArthur Fellows Programme is also known as Genius Grant.

ANSWER: Andhra Pradesh

Explanation:
17th All-India Government Whips Conference was held in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh from 29 to 30 September 2015 presided by Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs M. Venkaiah Naidu. This conference was attended by close to 179 whips from numerous state assemblies, legislative councils and houses of the Parliament. The conference discussed aspects like MPLAD scheme fund utilisation and releasing of more funds to MPs. At the time of the conference, it was decided MP salaries and allowances will be reviewed after 5 years and a 3 member Independent Emoluments Commission has been appointed for the same in consultation with LS Speaker and RS chairman. The commission will consist of a Chief Commissioner who shall be a person of eminence in the field of public affairs with knowledge of functioning of Parliament and two more commissioners. The Whips Conference provides a suitable forum for periodical meetings and view exchange amongst all the Whips in Parliament and the State Legislatures on united concerns apart from promoting parliamentary democracy in India.

ANSWER: 21st

Explanation:
21st Meeting of the Western Zonal Council was held on September 29 at Panaji, Goa in the year 2015. Council was chaired by Union Home Minister R. Singh and discussed development issues with social and economic bearing. Council called for enhanced centre- state cooperation and discussed relaxation of provisions of CRZ Notification 2011. Next Zonal Council meeting will be at Mumbai, Maharashtra. The creation of Zonal Councils was first put forth by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru in the 1950s. Besides this, North-Eastern States Council was established under the North Eastern Council Act, 1972. Western Zonal Council comprises the States of Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra and the Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

ANSWER: New York, USA

Explanation:
Leaders’s Summit on Peacekeeping was held at New York in the US at the UN HQ on the margins of the high level debate of UNGA. It was attended by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and leaders of more than 50 nations including India. Leaders of these countries reviewed current operations of 125,000 strong UN peacekeeping force UN Peacekeeping has an annual average budget of USD 8.2 billion and is involved in 12 missions across 4 continents. India is the largest contributor to the mission.

ANSWER: 30th September

Explanation:
The theme for this day was the “Changing Face of Translation and Interpreting”. This day has been established by the International Federation of Translators to pay tribute to the work of translators. This day coincides with the feast day of St. Jerome who translated Bible into Latin from Hebrew. He is the patron saint for translators and this day has been celebrated as International Translation Day since 1991.

ANSWER: Praveen Dixit

Explanation:
Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau chief Praveen Dixit was appointed as the state's Director General of Police (DGP) on 29th September 2015. A 1977 batch officer, he will have a tenure of one year and has succeeded Sanjeev Dayal who retired from office on September 30, 2015. Other appointments were also made. Senior IPS officer Vijay Kamble has been appointed as the new DG of ACB while 1981 batch IPS officer Satish Mathur has been appointed Director General and Managing Director of State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation (MSPHWC). Meera Borwankar, Additional DG of Police (Prisons), has been promoted and posted as Director General of Legal and Technical Department.

ANSWER: NDTV Convergence

Explanation:
NDTV Convergence, the digital wing of NDTV group, on 30 September 2015 signed a strategic agreement with the US-based content recommendations engine Taboola worth around INR 100 crore for 3 years for jumpstarting the entire network of desktop and mobile sites of NDTV.Taboola will serve as the exclusive, multi-platform content discovery partner across all the sections of NDTV and offer advertisers with an option to target the premium NDTV audience through native content marketing. Both the companies also aim to increase user engagement. New Delhi Television Limited is an Indian commercial broadcasting TV network founded by Prannoy and Radhika Roy while Taboola is a content marketing platform formed by Adam Singolda in the year 2007.

ANSWER: Naina Lal Kidwai

Explanation:
HSBC India Chairperson Naina Lal Kidwai will retire in December, after a 13-year stint with the bank, HSBC announced on September 30, 2015.She will also step down from her position of executive Director on the Board of HSBC Asia-Pacific. Kidwai joined HSBC in 2002 as Vice Chairman and Managing Director at HSBC Securities and Capital Markets, India and was appointed Group General Manager of the Bank in 2006. She was appointed as CEO of HSBC India in 2007 and as Chairman of HSBC India in 2009.

ANSWER: Edward Snowden

Explanation:
Edward Snowden, former NSA whistleblower has joined social media network Twitter on 29th September 2015. His handle @Snowden has close to 100,000 followers and is rapidly increasing. Snowden is following NSA’s official twitter account and his first tweet was “Can you hear me now?”. He was given political asylum in Russia in summer 2013 after his passport was revoked by the US.

ANSWER: Cerebellum

Explanation:
The decision to pick out a constant hum or sudden bursts made by cells is associated with voltage across cell membranes and input from certain regions of the brain under specific conditions. This has been demonstrated by scientists M. Sengupta and V. Thirumalai from NCBS in Bengaluru. Cerebellum, a small structure at the brain’s base controls acquisition of new motor skills, balance and coordination. Permitting these functions are nerve cells referred to as Purkinje cells neatly arranged in simple layers within the cerebellum. The tune theory shows cells receive signals from varied brain parts and send out messages to deeper layer of cerebellum.

ANSWER: 891.5 billion

Explanation:
Foreign owned assets in India increased by USD 12.1 billion to USD 891.5 billion during April-June quarter of current fiscal as against 3 months of the previous fiscal, as per RBI data. This is on account of rise of USD 2.6 billion in India portfolio investment and increase of USD 5.6 billion in direct investment into the nation. Net claims of NRIs increased by USD 0.6 billion over previous quarter to USD 362.3 billion towards the close of June 2015, as per RBI data on IIP for the April-June quarter. Ratio of India’s global financial assets to global financial liabilities was at 59.4 percent in the month of June 2015 as against 58.9% in March 2015. Regarding the assets front, India residents’ financial assets abroad were pegged at USD 529.2 billion up from USD 11.4 billion during the preceding quarter on account of rise of USD 1.3 billion in reserve assets, according to RBI. Difference between assets and liabilities as shown by net IIP is disseminated with a quarter lag. IIP is a vital input for comprehending external sustainability and vulnerability.

ANSWER: Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, and Oriental Bank of Commerce

Explanation:
State operated lenders PNB, BoB and OBC have lowered their base or minimum lending rate with respect to RBI policy rate cut. PNB cut the base rate by 0.40 percent while BoB lowered base rate by 0.25 percent while OBC cut the rate by 0.20 percent. Base rate cit is by 40 basis points from 10% to 9.6% from October 1, 2015. BoB has decided to reduce rates by 25 basis points from 9.90% per annum to 9.65% and also lowered BPLR by 25 basis points from 14.15 percent to 13.90 percent. Lowering of rates will be effective from October 5th, 2015. OBC has slashed bank rates by 20 basis points from 9.90% per annum to 9.70% w.e.f September 30, 2015. Axis bank was the first among private lenders to announce a rate cut while SBI, Andhra Bank and Bank of India were among the first to lower base rate in range of 0.20 to 0.40 percent in response to RBI repo rate cut of 50 bps to 6.75%.

ANSWER: Sportzlive

Explanation:
BAI had announced the appointment of Sportzlive as official marketing and sponsorship partner for second season of Indian Badminton League scheduled from January 2nd to 17th in 2016. The company is associated with investing and creating sports IPR in India and its key promoters are Gaurav Bahal and Atul Pande, associated with more than 25 years of collective sports and media experience. Deal gives Sportzville the right to approach corporates, brands and business owners for sponsorship and franchisee slots in League. IBL will feature 6 franchise teams across India to boost the experience with the inclusion of talented domestic and international players. Player auctions have been scheduled for November 20, 2015.

ANSWER: Novartis

Explanation:
GSK pharma has completed its transaction with Novartis Healthy Private Limited, acquiring the vaccine business of Novartis and divesting marketed oncology portfolio to Novartis India. This is the result of a transaction between Novartis and GSK on March 2015. Acquisition will give GSK opportunity to create a strong global vaccine business. As per the agreement, Novartis was to acquire GlaxoSmithKline plc’s (GSK) cancer drugs portfolio for USD 16 billion and sell its vaccines business in return for USD 7.1 billion, besides forming a JV for the consumer healthcare business in a 3-part transaction

ANSWER: UP

Explanation:
NGO Jan Sasharktikaran sought action against illegal sand mining on river Betwa from the NGT. Following this, NGT has directed authorities to stop illegal sand mining in Jalaun and Hamirpur district of UP. Bench headed by U. D. Salvi has issued notice to MoEF, state PCBs and others directing authorities to stop these activities. Sand mining disrupts aquatic life and river ecology.

ANSWER: India, Japan and the US

Explanation:
Regarding China’s growing assertiveness in S. China Sea, India, Japan and the IS have hosted their first ever trilateral ministerial dialogue aimed towards peaceful dispute settlement, ease of navigation and lawful commerce. Associated with a quarter of the world’s population and economic production power, 3 nations also agreed to partner each other for protecting maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region. Meeting was attended by MEA minister Sushma Swaraj, Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida and US Secretary of State John Kerry. The 3 nations represent a quarter of the population and economic production power of the world and highlighted shared support for peace, prosperity and democracy as well as rules based global order.

ANSWER: Creative Lifestyles

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!

ANSWER: 8

Explanation:
The growth of eight core sectors slowed down to 2.6 per cent in August

The slowdown in growth was mainly due to contraction of steel output. Expansion in 8 infrastructure sectors contributing 38 percent to overall industrial production was 5.9 percent in August in 2014. August 2015 output was only higher than previous month where core sectors had grown by 1.1 percent. Data released by Commerce and Industry Ministry also said steel output in month under review fell to 5.9% as against positive growth of 9.4% in August 2014. Coal, cement and electricity output slowed down to 0.4 per cent, 5.4 per cent and 5.6 percent respectively during the last month, as compared to 13.2 percent, 10 per cent and 12.9 percent.
The following sectors -rude oil, natural gas, refinery products and fertilisers-recorded healthy growth. In March and April 2015, the eight industries witnessed contraction of 0.1 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively. However, in May and June the core sectors expanded by 4.4 per cent and 3 per cent respectively. In the April-August period of the current fiscal, the core sectors’ output expanded by 2.2 percent as against 5.6 percent in the first five months of 2014-15.

ANSWER: GE

Explanation:
Infosys is aiming to create new Internet of Things solutions to derive practical benefits from tons of data generated via connected devices in industrial enterprise with GE. Infosys is the second largest IT services firm who has collaborated with GE and others to develop solutions. Two Infosys led testbeds have been approved by Industrial Internet Consortium. Two Big Data analaytics will be used for developing IDT namely Infosys Information Platform (providing in memory data analytics and big data management) and GE’s Predix platform for delivering data acquisition, processing and user interface as well as app development. IDT has been co-developed by Infosys and GE and will be first implemented as a pilot project in GE Aviation.