Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Oct 06, 2015

ANSWER: “India’s Creative Continuum-Minority Communities in Craft”

Explanation:
This book was released Dr. Jitendra Singh, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space in presence of Dr. Najma Heptulla, the Minister for Minority Affairs and her Minister of State Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. The book was released at Exhibition-Cum-Sale “Jashn – E – Usttad’ showcasing the crafts documented in it. It includes details of 18 identified crafts and their standards ranging from stone to wood, to metal to cloth, and technique from weaving to print and from painting to inlay. This book will promote conservation of crafts of minority communities.

ANSWER: Edida Nageswara Rao

Explanation:
Edida Nageswara Rao, a well known Telugu film producer has died of age related illness on October 4th 2015 at Hyderabad at the age of 81. He produced 10 top films and is known for hits such as Shankarabharanam (1979), Sagarasangamam (1983) and Swatimutyam (1986). He is a 4 time national award winner and Nandi awards winner. Siri Siri Muvva and Swatimutyam also had the distinction of being screened at Moscow Film Festival and Shankarabharanam brought him critical acclaim at the global level, while Rao’s movie Swatimutyam was chosen as India's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1986.

ANSWER: National Sagarmala Apex Committee

Explanation:
The meeting was attended by Union Ministers from Ministries of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation; Railways; Rural Development; Civil Aviation; Petroleum & Natural Gas, Environment, Forests & Climate Change; and Vice Chairman of Niti Aayog, besides Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Goa, and State Ministers/ Port Ministers of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Odisha and Tamil Nadu and chaired by Union Minister for transport, road and shipping.The National Sagarmala Apex Committee provides overall policy guidance and high level coordination, approves and reviews various aspects of planning and implementation of the National Perspective Plan. The project itself aims for port led development through focus on port modernisation and industrial development.

ANSWER: Perumal Murugan

Explanation:
Tamil writer Perumal Murugan is going to be conferred with the 4th Indian languages festival Samanvay Bhasha Samman award which recognises contribution to literature in India. He will receive the award for Madhorubhagan given to honour the promotion of the unbroken literary tradition of Tamil language. Past winners of the award include Hindi author Ashok Vajpeyi, Gujarati author Chandrakant Topiwala and Odiya writer Sitakant Mahapatra. The jury for the award was chaired by K Satchidananda and comprised Sachin Ketkar, Manglesh Dabral, Mitra Phukan and Arundhati Subramaniam. Murugan has written 9 novels and 4 collections of poetry and short stores. 3 of his works have been translated to English namely “One Part Woman” “Current Show” and “Seasons of the Palm.”

ANSWER: KISAN

Explanation:
Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare on 5th October launched KISAN Project [C(K)rop Insurance using Space technology And geoiNformatics] of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & FW, Ministry of Agriculture and FW. This uses Space Technology and geoinformatics (GIS, GPS and Smartphone) technology as well as high resolution data from UAV/Drone based imaging for improvement in yield estimation and better planning of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs). This is vital for crop insurance programmes. The KISAN project will be implemented by Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC), in partnership with ISRO Centres (Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad & National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad), India Meteorological Department, CCAFS, State Agriculture Departments and State Remote Sensing Centres.

ANSWER: Philippines

Explanation:
China won the International Basketball Federation Asia Championship by defeating Philippines on 3rd October 2015. This qualifies the country for direct entry to 2016 Rio Olympics. While Philippines was second, Iran secured third place in the tournament. India secured the eighth position in the tournament.

ANSWER: Ashish Bahugana

Explanation:
Chairman of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India was on 4th October 2015 given additional charge as CEO of FSSAI. This was following the shift of Y. S. Malik to Niti Aayog as an additional secretary. Bahugana is a retired 1978 batch Rajasthan cadre IAS officer and former Agriculture Secretary. He is been the chairman of FSSAI since July 2015. FSSAI was instituted in August 2011 and it promotes public health through supervision and regulation of food safety. It has an HQ in Delhi.

ANSWER: Lithuania

Explanation:
Minister of State for Agriculture in India, Mr. Kundariya in a meeting with his Lithuanian counterpart discussed latest agricultural initiatives in India including soil health cards to be given to 140 million farmers and special irrigation schemes The sides agreed to collaborate in research and agricultural technology. They also agreed that Lithuanian delegation comprising of senior executives of the Ministry, scientists and business representatives would visit India to take forward the conversations. A bilateral agreement on agricultural cooperation was also signed during the visit.

ANSWER: More than 1000

Explanation:
A single neuron/nerve cell in a normal adult brain may have more than 1000 genetic mutations, many of which could be harmless, according to new research by Maryland-based Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) scientists. The mutations manifest after the brain becomes fully developed. For the study, the scientists isolated and sequenced the genomes of 36 neurons from healthy brains donated by three adults after their deaths and sequenced DNA that they isolated from cells in each individual's heart. They found each never cell’s genome was unique with more than 1000 point mutations that change a single letter of the genetic code. These mutations have a unique signature of their own and occur when cells are expressing the genes.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
The Nobel Prize 2015 in Physiology or Medicine went to William C. Campbell and Satoshi Omura, and Youyou Tu. While the first two scientists discovered a novel therapy for roundworm parasite infection for which they were awarded, Tu won the prize for discoveries in the field of novel therapy for malaria. While Campbell and Omura discovered a new drug, Avermectin, the derivatives of which have lowered the incidence of River Blindness and Lymphatic Filariasis, and showed efficacy against other parasitic diseases, Tu discovered Artemisinin, a drug that has considerably reduced the mortality rates for patients suffering from Malaria.

ANSWER: Team Space Exploration Architecture and Clouds Architecture Office

Explanation:
NASA conferred awards to participants who developed architectural concepts taking advantage of 3-D printing to imagine what Martian habitat may look like. Team Space Exploration Architecture and Clouds Architecture Office won first prize for their design, Mars Ice House. Second place went to Team Gamma while Team LavaHive was awarded third place.

ANSWER: Chang La

Explanation:
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on 3 October 2015 inaugurated an Extreme Altitude Research Centre/ DIHAR at Chang La, Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir at 17600 feet above mean sea level. This has the distinction of being world’s highest terrestrial research and development centre. Situated 75 km off Leh town in Pangong Lake, Defence Institute of High Altitude Research/ DIHAR will promote R&D in areas of food and agriculture as well as bio medical sciences for safety of soldiers in high altitude cold desert. DIHAR was formally known as Field Research Lab and it was established in the 1960s, under the supervision of India’s first PM Jawahar Lal Nehru.

ANSWER: Odisha

Explanation:
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik allowed citizens to gain access to information, request for police services and obtain a copy of FIR through the Citizen Portal. The portal can now be used to obtain character certificates, take out processions, rallies, protests and strikes and seek permission to hold events and performances. Portal can also be used for tenant verification and employee verification as well as complaint tracking.

ANSWER: Jin

Explanation:
Chinese archeologists have excavated rare turtle shaped brick tomb which is 800 years old dates back to the mid to late Jin Dynasty (1115-1234). The tomb was discovered by a village person in Shangzhuang village of Shanxi Province in the month of April. The tomb is constructed at the height of 4 metres and consists of an octagonal burial chamber as well as 5 small rooms. Design is turtle shaped and 7 sides of the chamber are embedded with 21 brick carvings, 3 on either side.

ANSWER: Old City

Explanation:
Israel Police on 4th October 2015 banned Jerusalem’s Palestinian residents from entering Old City for two days . However, there will also be age limitation on worship at the Al-Aqsa mosque which is holy to both Jewish and Muslim communities. The closure is focused on protecting people during the Jewish holiday of Sukkoth. Close to 3 lakh Palestinians live in east Jerusalem where the Old City is located.

ANSWER: Both of the above

Explanation:
The ruling Social Democratic Party led coalition (PSD-CDS- People’s Party coalition) has secured 37% of the votes of which share of PSD is over 32%. This win ensured that incumbent PM Pedro Passos Coelho is going to hold on to his post for the next 4 years. Present performance of the coalition marks a sharp departure from its robust win in the 2011 general election. Portugal is currently suffering from unemployment at 12% of the work force and 125 percent to GDP. This is the second highest rate in the EU next to Greece.

ANSWER: 10%

Explanation:
Number of persons living in extreme poverty will fall below 10% of the world’s population in 2015, according to World Bank’s revised benchmark for measuring the problem. The definition of extreme poverty is living on or less than USD 1.25 per day though the WB’s adjustment has set the poverty line at USD 1.90 per day. New data shows differences in cost of living across nations. World Bank projects 702 million persons or 9.6% of the world’s population will be in extreme poverty in 2015 down from 12.8% in 2012. Fall in poverty is an account of robust economic growth rates in emerging markets and investments in social, health and education safety nets. The bank has also said that half of those living in extreme poverty by 2020 will be from fragile, conflict ridden states.

ANSWER: Tiruchirapalli

Explanation:
Tiruchirapalli City Municipal Corporation was awarded the Skoch Smart Governance Award for Operational Excellence in Waste Transportation using ICT based solutions. Award was conferred by Skoch, a group based in Gurgaon that deals with social issues. City corporation used RFID/Radio Frequency Identification System for solid waste management in the city. RFID is a wireless use of electromagnetic fields for transferring data to automatically identify and track tags associated with objects, while tags carry electronically stored information.

ANSWER: 18

Explanation:
India and Germany have signed around 18 MoUs including a land mark deal for fast tracking business approvals and other aspects to facilitate operation of German companies in Asia’s 3rd largest economy. The signing of the MoUs marks Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to New Delhi. The agreement is unique and the first of its kind which will ensure single point of contact in Indian administration for German companies. Other agreements were for enhancing cooperation in fields such as trade, intelligence, clean energy and defence manufacturing. The pacts signed included joint declaration of intent between Union HRD ministry and the federal foreign office of Germany for the promotion of German as a foreign language in India as well as the promotion of modern Indian languages in Germany.