Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Oct 08, 2015

ANSWER: Operation Smile

Explanation:
Union MHA minister Shri Rajnath Singh presented CoE to Shri R. R. Verma, director general RPF for commendable contribution through Operation Smile in the field of anti human trafficking. Indian Railways has formed the Child Protection Committees at railway stations across the country. The RPF, being the most active component of Child Protection Committees has been rescuing trafficking children and handing them over to either legitimate guardians, or authorised NGOs, in this field. In 2014, 4658 minor children were rescued by RPF while in 2015, so far 3969 have been rescued by personnel from RPF.

ANSWER: Germany

Explanation:
GoI and Federal Republic of Germany have signed 2 loan agreements totalling 125 million euros for financing projects under Green Energy corridor programme in HP and AP. 57 million Euros will be allocated to HP and 68 million Euros for AP. Green Energy corridor programme seeks promotion of renewable energy into national grid. Renewable energy is one of the key areas of Indo German partnership indicated in the Joint Statement of Hannover in April 2015.

ANSWER: Sergey Karjakin

Explanation:
Russian player Sergey Karjakin has won the 2015 FIDE World Chess Cup beating Peter Svidler 6-4 in the final at Azerbaijan’s capital Baku. The latter player also hails from Russia. Both won two classical games and the title was contended in the tie breakers. By reaching the final, both players have qualified for the 2016 Candidates Chess Tournament. The Chess World Cup is one of the prized competitions along with the World Championship and the Candidates Tournament. Russian chess grandmaster Sergey Karjakin is from Ukraine and currently world number 11 in FIDE World Rankings.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Following the returning of the Sahitya Akademi award by authoress Nayantara Sehgal, poet Ashok Vajpayi has returned the literary honour for PM Narendra Modi’s silence regarding recent killings of M. M. Kalburgi, Govind Pansare and Mohammed Akhlaq. Earlier, Hindi writer and noted literary figure Uday Prakash had also returned the award for the same reason.

ANSWER: Both a and b

Explanation:
Book entitled “The Clintons’ War on Women” written by Robert Morrow and Roger Stone was in news in October 2015 for highlighting how Hillary Clinton is allegedly volatile and prone to outbursts against her husband even as she is a campaigner for women and girls rights. The best selling authors have focused on how the Clintons abused women to gain power and wealth, chronicling the crimes and cover ups. The book is to be launched on 13th October 2015.

ANSWER: James Fenton

Explanation:
Saudi blogger Raif Badawai has been selected for a free speech prize, the PEN Pinter Prize along with British poet James Fenton. Badawi served 10 years in prison after being convicted of insulting Islam and he was also flogged publicly. Groups such as Amnesty International have campaigned for his release. The award was accepted on the blogger’s behalf by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. PEN Pinter Prize was established in the year 2009 in memory of Noble prize winner and playwright Harold Pinter and run by writer’s group PEN. Fenton is a former professor of poetry at Oxford University as well as a war correspondent.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Swedish scientist Tomas Lindahl, American Paul Murdoch and Turkish American scientist Aizi Sancar won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for mechanistic studies of DNA repair. Their work has provided “fundamental knowledge of how a living cell functions,” according to the Royal Swedish Academy. Their findings have been used for the development of new cancer treatments, among other things, the academy also added. Lindahl is presently an emeritus group leader at Francis Crick Institute and Emeritus director of Cancer Research at Clare Hall Laboratory in the UK.
Modrich is an researcher at Howard Hughes Medical Institute and professor at Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC. Sandra is professor of University of North Carolina School of Medicine in NC. 8 million Swedish kronor award will be handed on December 10 which the anniversary of the founder of the prize Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896.

ANSWER: Samih Elhage, Federico Guillen, Bhaskar Gorti and Basil Alwan

Explanation:
Finish telecom maker has announce the new heads of Mobile Networks, Fixed Networks, Applications & Analytics and IP/Optical Networks. following the completion of Alcatel-Lucent merger. They are Samih Elhage who currently is the executive VP and CFO of Nokia Networks while Federico Guillen was selected as head of the Fixed Networks Unit. Bhaskar Gorti will head the Applications and Analysis unit while IP Routing and Transport will be headed by Basil Alwan. Nokia in April 2015 had announced acquisition of French firm Alcatel Lucent in an all stock deal valued at USD 16.6 billion. Ramzi Haidamus would continue in his present role as president of Nokia Technologies. Timo Ihamuotila, presently executive VP and GFO, Nokia, would serve as CFO, while Ashish Chowdhary, presently chief business officer, Nokia Networks, would be the chief customer operations officer.

ANSWER: Hoesung Lee

Explanation:
South Korean climate change expert Housing Lee was elected as new chief of IPCC succeeding RK Pachauri who resigned following allegations of sexual harassment. Lee is currently professor of economics of climate change, energy and sustainable development at Korea University in Seoul. He was also the vice chairman of the IPCC since the year 2008. He has become the fourth IPCC head after Bert Bolin, Bob Watson and RK Pachauri. Pachauri served in the IPCC for the longest period of time, having been elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2008. Lee was 1 of 6 candidates contesting for the post of IPCC head. Others in the fray included Stanford University’s Chris Field, Jean Pascal van Ypersele from Belgium, Ogunlade Davidson (Sierra Leone), Nebojsa Nakicenovic (Austria and Montenegro) and Thomas Stocker of Switzerland. IPCC was created in 1988 as a project of UNEP and WMO.

ANSWER: Indian Skill Development Service

Explanation:
Government has approved the formation of ISDS/Indian Skill Development Service, belonging to the technical cadre of MSDE. Earlier it was known as Directorate General of Employment and Training under Ministry of Labour Employment. Cabinet also have approval of Non functional Selection Grade to 15% of SDPs in STS level as applicable in Group A Engineering Services. Cadre restructuring changes approved by cabinet include increase of a single post at SAG level and 4 posts for JAG.

ANSWER: Hans Dieter Poetsch

Explanation:
Volkswagen has elected CFO Hans Dieter Poetsch as the chairman of its board of directors in the wake of the diesel emissions scandal. The announcement was made during the meeting at the company’s plant in Wolfsburg, Germany and he retained the backing of major shareholders who have the lion’s share of voting through a holding company. Frank Witter will replace him as CFO, a post he retained since 2003.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Union Cabinet has approved proposal for establishing three new AIIMS at Nagpur (Maharashtra), Manglagiri (AP) and Kalyani (WB) under the PMSSY at cost of INR 4949 crore. The proposed aims will have a capacity of 960 beds along with admin block, teaching block, theatre, nursing college, nice shelter, hostel and residential facilities as well as AYUSH block. Of the total expenditure of Rs 4949 crore, the cost of the new AIIMS at Manglagiri in Andhra Pradesh will be Rs 1618 crore, at Nagpur in Maharashtra of Rs 1577 crore and at Kalyani in West Bengal of Rs 1754 crore. While 6 new AIIMS have been made functional under the yojana, construction of one such unit is ongoing at Rae Barielly.

ANSWER: Israel

Explanation:
Union Cabinet has approved an amendment to the Convention and Protocol between India and Israel for avoidance of DTAA and fiscal evasion regarding taxes on income and capital. Protocol provides globally accepted standards for effective exchange of information on tax matters such as bank data without domestic tax interest. It also holds that data provided from Israel regarding Indian residents can be shared with law enforcement agencies with authorisation from Competent Authority of Israel and vice versa. Existing DTAC between the two nations was signed in the 1990s.

ANSWER: Both of the above

Explanation:
Currently, the DTAA between Indian and Vietnam was signed in 1994 and is undergoing amendment to meet internationally accepted standards. These include updation of A27 on Exchange of Information, addition of a new article on Assistance in Collection of Taxes and entry into Amending Protocol for this purpose. The agreement between the two nations will be amended for avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion regarding taxes on income.

ANSWER: Seychelles

Explanation:
Union Cabinet has provided ex post facto approval for protocol for cooperation in the field of blue economy signed between the two nations in August 26, 2015. Protocol lays down the modalities and mechanism of cooperation between the two parties for ocean studies as well as scientific exploration and exploitation of sea based resources, for sustainable development and economic purposes. It will enhance strategic cooperation in the field of blue economy while increasing commercial benefits from human resources expertise and technology export. Cooperation with Seychelles in the blue economy will provide data on ocean based resources as well as technology and expertise sharing in the field of R&D apart from furthering domestic innovation in ocean research and technology.

ANSWER: Habitability Index for Transiting Planets

Explanation:
Scientists have created a Habitability index for transiting planets which can arrive at a single number habitability index showing the probability of liquid water on the surface of the planet. Earlier, astronomers focused on looking for planets in the star’s habitable zone called “Goldilocks zone”, a swath of space just enough to give orbiting earth like planets chance to have liquid water and life on the surface. This has been a binary designation and the habitability index is more precise. The index has been created by University of Washington professors R. Barnes and V. Meadows along with research assistant Nicole Evans. A phenomenon called “eccentricity—albedo degeneracy,” which comments on a sort of balancing act between a planet’s albedo — the energy reflected back to space from its surface — and the circularity of its orbit, which affects how much energy it receives from its host star such that they counteract each other was also proposed by the scientists. Higher a planet’s albedo, the more light and energy are reflected off to space, leaving less at the surface to warm the world and aid possible life and if planet’s orbit is irregular, then more intense is the energy it gets when passing close to its star in its elliptic journey.A planet in the inner edge of the habitable zone should be in higher albedo to cool the world while planets on outer edge of habitable zone will need higher level of orbital eccentricity to generate energy needed for life.

ANSWER: Both a and b

Explanation:
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, on 7th October 2015 gave its ex-post facto approval for circulation of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Agreement on cooperation in the field of sports signed with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. This MoU was signed in the month of July, 2015. Bilateral exchange programmes in the field of sports between India and Kazakhstan and India and Turkmenistan will assist in expanding knowledge and expertise in the areas of sports science, sports medicine as well as coaching techniques besides improvement in performance of Indian sportspersons in international tournaments.

ANSWER: Neeranchal

Explanation:
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval to World Bank assisted National Watershed Management Project "Neeranchal" with a total outlay of USD 357 million.The project will be implemented at National level as well as in the nine States of Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana. Total cost of the project is pegged at INR 1071.15 crore or 50% while the remaining is a loan component of WB. Neeranchal aims at achieving the major objectives of the Watershed Component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana (PMKSY) and for ensuring access to irrigation to every farm (Har Khet Ko Pani) and efficient use of water (Per Drop More Crop).

ANSWER: Ajay Singh

Explanation:
Low cost carrier SpiceJet has received shareholder approval for appointment of Ajay Singh as MD by the board for a 3 year period. The shareholders gave the approval through a postal ballot. Singh was the original co founder of the airlines. He gained 58.46% stake from promoters Kalanithi Maran and Kal Airways Pvt Ltd to return to the fold.

ANSWER: Ashok Vemuri

Explanation:
French IT services firm Capgemini has indicated that Ashok Vemuri, CEO of iGATE has resigned from the company six months after it was acquired by the former for USD 4 billion. Vemuri joined iGATE as CEO in September 2013. Other noted execs of this company included Sean Suresh Narayanan and Sujit Sircar who were offered retention bonuses in 2014.