Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Oct 10, 2015

ANSWER: 90

Explanation:
To benefit buyers of low cost housing, RBI on 8th October 2015 raised the amount banks can advance for property purchase and lowered the risk weightage of various categories of home loans. This will attract customers to low cost housing sphere. Banks will also gain surplus funds for affordable housing loans as they have to set aside less capital for the segment. Banks can now provide home loans up to 90% for properties that cost INR 30 lakh or less from the earlier INR 20 lakh. LTV has been raised to 80% for properties between INR 30 lakh and 75 lakh and 75% for those above INR 75 lakh.

ANSWER: 26 MT

Explanation:
Government pegs total sugar output at 26 MT for current marketing year 2015-2016 which is 2 million tonnes less than last year on account of poor monsoon in Maharashtra and Karnataka. This is much lower than ISMA’s estimate of 27 MT for 2015-2016. Country has produced 28.1 MT of sugar in 2014-2015 marketing year. Currently, India is the world’s second largest sugar producer.

ANSWER: Both of the above

Explanation:
BSE is going to launch high frequency job and consumer sentiment data from 2016 to help policy makers and companies attain a better grip of the economy. The Indian unemployment rate and Indian consumer sentiment indices are being created by BSE in collaboration with CMIE and University of Michigan. and will be released at high frequency on real time basis. Data will be released everyday on BSE from survey of more than 4000 adults from 1200 to 1500 households across the nation. Data based on survey of CMIE’s panel of 5 lakh people from 1.58 lakh households across 315 cities and 3000 villages was used. These indices will help investors, corporate groups and policy makers to analyse the health of the domestic economy.

ANSWER: First community reserve

Explanation:
For protecting the endangered Gangetic river dolphins, the Indian state of West Bengal will have the first community reserve for the mammals. This decision was taken by the State Wildlife Board even as a committee was formed to study ways of setting up community reserve in Hooghly river between Sundarbans and Malda. This stretch is around 500 km long and passes through Kolkata’s most populated areas before merging in the Sunderbans with the Bay of Bengal. As per the Wildlife Protection Act, there is provision for creation of such community reserves for protection of fauna and flora. Gangetic dolphins are the national aquatic animal of India. A census will also be carried out to assess their numbers.. Currently, the number of dolphins is less than 2000 in India. The Gangetic Dolphin is known as the Tiger of the Ganges and is an indicator animal for the river ecosystem in much the same way as a tiger in forests. Killing, habitat fragmentation and indiscriminate fishing has led to fall in the numbers of these dolphins.

ANSWER: Both b and c

Explanation:
Indian Railways has launched the facility for booking paperless unreserved tickets plus platform tickets for cutting down on queues in reservation counters. This initiate was started in suburban rail sections of Mumbai where close to 75 lakh passengers use the train services to commute between places. The IT enabled passenger services are in line with Digital India mission. Paperless ticket programme will also cover New Delhi and Hazrat Nizamuddin stations. Currency coin cum card operated automatic ticket vending machine as also been launched at numerous Central and Western Railways on the occasion. Campaign will also be launched to combat ticketless travelling on Indian Railways.

ANSWER: Whitefly

Explanation:
Punjab farmers have lost two thirds of their cotton crop to whitefly even as NBRI developing a cotton variety resistant to the pest. The institute found a gene derived from a vegetable to be effective against the whitefly. The gene induces whitefly sterility and prevents reproduction of the pest. CSIR’s research lab, NBRI has applied for patent for the technology in 8 nations. Whitefly is a common pest affecting 30 plant varieties such as papaya, brinjal and cotton as well as okra in fields. Cotton is currently grown in 9 Indian states namely MP, TN, Gujarat, Telangana, Karntaka, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Maharashtra. The northern states are more affected by the whitefly pest. Whitefly takes away the nutrients from the leaves of the crop and stunts their growth. This pest can destroy the crop in just 6 to 8 weeks. NBRI tested genes from 250 plants to find the one effective for eliminating whitefly in cotton crops. Protein formed by the gene is easily digestible in lab trials.

ANSWER: 3.3 to 3.8

Explanation:
Scientists have used data from the Curiosity rover to determine that water helped deposit sediments into the Gale Crater where the rover landed around 3 years ago and this has increased odds of life once existing on the Red Planet. Sediment deposited as larges formed the foundation for Mount Sharp on mars. Rover observations suggest that series of streams and rivers existed at some point between 3.3 to 3.8 billion years back, building up lower layers of Mount Sharp through sediment deposition. Findings built upon previous research indicating the presence of ancient lakes on Mars.

ANSWER: Both of the above

Explanation:
NASA has released first colour pictures of haze surrounding Pluto alone with water ice patches on the dwarf planet collected by the New Horizons probe. The picture shows the haze to be bright blue. The water ice was found in a composite image from New Horizons' Ralph instrument, combining visible imagery from the Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) with infrared spectroscopy from the Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array. The tint reveals the size and composition of the haze particles apart from scattering of sunlight by small particles. Scattering of light in the red planet is through soot particles scientists refer to as tholins. Bits of ice correlate with red patches on the surface of the planet. Water appears in patches and scientists are now preparing to find out more about their formation and appearance.

ANSWER: 125

Explanation:
The right wing of a 125 million year old bird from Spain’s central region preserved the bones of the forelimb and abundant remains of plumage and soft tissues. It also revealed that despite being different from modern birds in skeletal structure, these primitive birds have similar soft anatomy. The famous Archaeopteryx is one pf the 150 million year old birds forming part of the long evolutionary history of earth’s avian species. New study has found intricate arrangement of fibres in ancient birds which is an anatomical match with complex network of muscles, tendons and ligaments in modern birds.

ANSWER: National Dialogue Quarter (Tunisia)

Explanation:
Prize was awarded to the Tunis group for decisive contribution towards founding pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of 2011 Jasmine Revolution. This quartet consists of 4 organisations namely the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT, Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail), the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA, Union Tunisienne de l’Industrie, du Commerce et de l’Artisanat), the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH, La Ligue Tunisienne pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme), and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers (Ordre National des Avocats de Tunisie). Following the Tunis Arab Spring. Quartet led the way for peaceful dialogue among citizens. This quartet was formed in 2013.

ANSWER: Patanjali

Explanation:
Futures Group entered into a partnership with Baba Ramdev led Patanjali Ayurved following a partnership to sell the FMCG products of the latter via its stores. Future Consumer Enterprises and Lifestyle Fashion shares as well as those of Future Retail rose by a healthy margin. Patanjali is all set to lunch noodles in the coming week to gain a projected profit of INR 1000 crore within the next 20 months.

ANSWER: Transtar International Freight

Explanation:
TVS Logistics has announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Australia-based Transtar International Freight, a privately-held logistics firm, in a move that is aimed at strengthening the company’s presence in the entire Asian region. Transtar is worth INR 850 crore and secures 70% of the revenue from Asian market. The stake in the Australian firm will be acquired through Singapore JV arm TVS Asianics Supply Chain Solutions. TVS LSL will generate revenue of USD 500 million from this deal over the next 5 years.

ANSWER: Bankbazaar Dot Com

Explanation:
Online financial product aggregator Bankbazaaar dot com has formed an agreement with Dena Bank for capturing online retail loan business through its web platform. Retail loans such as housing, car, used car and savings account will fuel the online presence of the bank and add to its
retail portfolio, according to Dena Bank.

ANSWER: N. Ramani

Explanation:
Famous flautist N. Ramani succumbed to cancer on 9th October 2015 at the age of 82 and is survived by son R. Thiyagaran who is also a flautist as is grandson Atul Kumar. Ramani was born in Tiruvarur, the birthplace of Carnatic Trinity in the 1930s and learned the art from Azhiyur Narayanasami Iyer, his maternal grandfather. Ramani won the the Sangita Kalanidhi award of the Music Academy. An experimenter, Ramani combined the Venu, Veena and Violin. Ramani also performed jugalbandhis with Hariprasad Chaurasia, M.S. Gopalakrishnan, N. Rajam, Pandit Viswamohan Bhat and U. Srinivas.

ANSWER: Ravindra Jain

Explanation:
Well known music director Ravindra Jain who overcame blindness to create soulful music for the Indian film industry including movies like Chitchor and Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se, died on Friday of multiple organ failure at the age of 71. Jain was known for his collaboration with singer K. J. Yesudas for melodies such as Oo goriya re, Beeti hui raat ki, Gori tera gaon and Jab deep jale aana. The music director began his career with a Mohammad Rafi song which was not released. He composed music for several hit films like Geeta Gata Chal and Vivah. He also composed music for TV serials.

ANSWER: Rahman Abbas

Explanation:
Following Nayantara Sehgal and Ashok Vajpeyi, novelist Rahman Abbas will be returning the Maharashtra State Urdu Sahitya Academy Award, which he won in 2011 for his third novel Khuda Ke Saaye Mein Aankh Micholi (Hide-and Seek in the Shadow of God). He has taken this action as a protect against rising intolerance of Hindu right wing groups against minorities. Abbas’s first Urdu novel was Nakhlistan ki Talash, published in 2004.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
FIFA provisionally suspended its president Sepp Blatter, secretary general Jerome Valcke and vice-president Michel Platini for 90 days. The ethics committee handed out the punishment following allegations of corruption against the three. FIFA also banned ex vice president Chung Mong-joon for 6 years.Issa Hayatou, head of Africa's football confederation CAF will act as the interim FIFA president during Blatter's ban. Blatter was the 8th president of FIFA. FBI and IRS-CI are currently investigating cause of corruption against him in scrutiny of collusion between officials of continental football bodies CONMEBOL (South America) and CONCACAF and sports marketing executives.

ANSWER: World Egg Day

Explanation:
This unique day is held for celebrating awareness about benefits of eggs which are a symbol of life and fertility. Celebrated by the World Egg Organisation, World Egg Day provides the perfect platform for promoting health benefits of eating eggs.World Egg Day was established at the International Egg Commission (IEC) Vienna 1996 conference. It was decided to celebrate World Egg Day on 2nd Friday of every October. 20th World Egg Day was celebrated in 4 cities of India namely Vijaywada, Lucknow, Mumbai and Bhubaneswar. India is the third largest world egg producer following China and the US.

ANSWER: Awarded 2015 Hridaynath Mangeshkar award

Explanation:
Academy award winning music composer and singer A. R. Rehman has been chosen for the 2015 Hridaynath Mangeshkar Award following a career spanning two decades in the Indian music industry. The award was constituted in 2011 by Hridayesh Art, a Mumbai- based socio-cultural organisation in honour of music composer and singer Hridaynath Mangeshkar, son of noted musician Deenanath Mangeshkar and younger brother of Indian music legends Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. Previous recipients of the award include Amitabh Bachchan, Sulochana Tai, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle.

ANSWER: V20

Explanation:
Finance Ministers of 20 nations vulnerable to climate change have launched V20 Group on October 8th 2014 during the annual meeting of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Lima, Peru. V20 has been formed to pool resources in a fight against global warming induced climate change. It is the counterpart of G20, an industrial group. V20 Group Finance Ministers also held their inaugural meeting which was chaired by Cesar Purisima, Finance Minister of the Philippines following the launch of this group.The establishment of the V20 was conceptualised in the 2013 – 2015 Costa Rica Action Plan of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF).

ANSWER: Ufa Declaration

Explanation:
The declaration entitled Joint Declaration of the Heads of the Migration Authorities of the BRICS guided by the Ufa Declaration is a major milestone so far as orderly and legal migration among these nations is concerned. The declaration also vowed to combat transnational organised crime in line with the declaration.

ANSWER: JETCO

Explanation:
Measures to enhance bilateral trade and investment relations between the two nations were initiated with the signing of the Protocol for establishment of India Ecuador Joint Economic and Trade Committee/JETCO. JETCO will function as forum for discussion and promotional activities for trade and investment issues. During the year 2014-2015, the bilateral trade between the two nations stood at USD 1290.77 million.