Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Oct 22, 2015

ANSWER: Egypt

Explanation:
Government on 21st October 2015 has approved the proposal for a maritime transport agreement with Egypt. The agreement will be signed to strengthen cooperation and render mutual assistance on merchant shipping and other maritime matters. Agreement will be signed to help the countries facilitate development of maritime relationship and cooperate for steady growth of maritime traffic.

ANSWER: Syed Zahoor Qasim

Explanation:
Acclaimed marine biologist Syed Zahoor Qasim passed away on October 20, 2015 in New Delhi at the age of 88. He was the father of Polar Biology in India. He also participated in the first Indian expedition to Antarctica in 1981-1982. Following the first expedition, he organised and guided the remaining 7 expeditions till 1988 and contributed in areas such as environmental pollution, estuarine ecology and marine culture. He has close to 200 original research papers in national and international journals to his credit. He has been awarded Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan by the Union Government. An erstwhile Planning Commission member and served as VC of Jamia Millia Islamia University.

ANSWER: Anil Kumble

Explanation:
Raipur Rangers, a franchise of the Champions Tennis League has appointed Anil Kumble as a brand ambassador. Rapid Rangers is co-owned by A. Mishra and C. Tiwari. It constitutes players like Ramanathan Ramkumar and Thomas Muster. CTL was conceived by former Indian tennis ace Vijay Amritraj in 2014.

ANSWER: K. Chockalingam

Explanation:
Veteran criminologist K. Chockalingam in the 4th week of October 2015 was conferred the Paul. H. Appleby Award by IIPA. He has been professor and researcher in the field of criminology in Madras University is Vice President of World Society of Victimology. He has also worked as Chair Professor of Criminal Law in NLU, Delhi from 2012-2014. He has authored more than 4 books and 75 research papers apart from winning awards such as Distinguished International Scholar Award of American Society of Criminology. He has also been founder and president of various societies for criminologists in India and abroad.

ANSWER: Seong-Jin Cho

Explanation:
Seong-Jin Cho, South Korea aged 21 has won the International Frederic Chopin Piano competition in Warsaw in 2015. The second prize winner was Charles Richard-Hamelin of Canada while the third prize was conferred on Kate Liu of the US. The competition is held once in 5 years and is a launching pad for internationally acclaimed pianists.

ANSWER: The World’s Women 2015:Trends and Statistics

Explanation:
Report indicates there are around 62 million more men than women worldwide. In younger age groups, men outnumber women while the reverse is true for older age groups. Life expectancy over the past 20 years has increased for both genders- 72 for women and 68 for men. Men are at higher risk than women of dying of cardiovascular disease. An estimated 58 million children of primary school age- 31 million being girls- are not in school. Two thirds of the 781 million illiterate adults in the world constitute women. As against three quarters of men, half of the women participate in the labour force. Number of female Heads of State was 19 in 2015, as against 12 in 1995. Women across the globe, irrespective of age, income or education are subject to different types of violence. Research also found that majority of deaths due to inadequate water, hygiene and sanitation was among women and girls in some parts of Asia. On an average, 1 in 3 married women in developing nations have no involvement in major household purchases.

ANSWER: Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty

Explanation:
Union Cabinet on 21st October 2015 approved the signing of MLAT in criminal matters with Maldives. Treaty is oriented towards boosting the role of both countries in prosecution and investigation of crime via mutual legal assistance and cooperation in anti- transnational crime and anti-terrorism investigations. Proposed treaty will be part of a broader framework for cooperation with Maldives.Mutual legal assistance treaty involves gathering information and data exchange. It is for the enforcement of public or anti-criminal laws.

ANSWER: Dreaming Big: My Journey to Connect India

Explanation:
The book entitled “Dreaming Big: My Journey to Connect India” was launched on 19th October 2015. This is an autobiography of Satanarayan Gangaram Pitroda authored with the aid of American writer David Chanoff. Pitroda is considered to be the father of the telecom revolution in India. The career of this telecom guru spans from USA to Titilagarh, Odisha. Book signals his return to India and assistance to former PM Rajiv Gandhi in spearheading the telecom revolution in the nation.

ANSWER: US

Explanation:
Russia and the US have inked an MoU on preventing incidents and providing for aviation flights during Syria operation. This MoU was signed between Defence Ministries of Russia and the US. Agreement was formed to prevent clashes between air forces in Syrian skies and ensure seamless operation of the two nations’ aircrafts and mutual coordination and aid in critical scenarios. Agreement is inclusive of coalition aircraft, coalition members including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Russia commenced with airstrikes in Syria in September 2015. MoU aims at incident prevention between American and Russian planes.

ANSWER: Mexico City

Explanation:
This meeting focused on acceleration of progress towards sustainable and effective coverage of maternal and newborn interventions at a massive scale. This is the forum for meeting the healthcare needs of mothers and newborns. This meeting was attended by policymakers, researchers and policymakers from 50 nations including India. This conference was convened by USAID in collaboration with UNFPA and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

ANSWER: Goldman Sachs Asset Management

Explanation:
Reliance Capital Asset Management, part of ADAG on 21st October 2015 signed a definitive agreement for the acquisition of GSAM/Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s onshore mutual fund business in the country. RCAM will pay a total sum of INR 243 crore/USD 37.5 million to acquire onshore MF funds including exchange traded funds of GSAM India. Through this acquisition. RCAM will be the exclusive fund manager for CPSE ETFs of the Union Government of India. GSAM India is part of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, asset management arm of Investment Management Division of Goldman Sachs Group Inc overseeing USD 1.19 trillion asset management under supervision w.e.f September 2015. GSAM India managed 12 MF fund schemes including 10 exchange traded funds.

ANSWER: Title

Explanation:
SC has held that no copyright law exists regarding the title of the literary work while criminal case against the producer of the a Bollywood movie, Desi Boyz was quashed. Bench passed the order against order of Bombay HC which had refused to quash the complaint filed by writer S. V. Devkatta.

ANSWER: VFTS 352

Explanation:
Scientists have discovered a two star system comprising two hot, bright stars orbiting each other in little more than one day, called VFTS 352. The strange pair has been found in Tarantula Nebula 160,000 light years away. International team of scientists have used the VLT or Very Large Telescope located in Atacama Desert to locate this pair, managed by ESO in Munich, Germany. 2 star system has two stars separated by close to 12 million km and their surfaces have started to overlap. Combined mass of the pair is close to 57 times the Sun and the surface temperatures are above 40,000 degree C making this the hottest and largest over contact double star system found.

ANSWER: Alok Rawat

Explanation:
Ex- Water Resources Secretary Alok Rawat has been appointed as the first male member of the NCW, filling the 4th seat in the 5 member body. He is a 1977 batch Sikkim cadre IAS officer. He has previously served at the following posts:

- Director/joint secretary in ministry of defence and ministry of road transport and highways;
- Secretary (UPSC);
- Secretary (Coordination and Public Grievances) in the cabinet secretariat Secretary in ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation.

ANSWER: Samardeep Subandh

Explanation:
e-Commerce major Flipkart has announced the appointment of S. Subandh as the Chief Marketing Officer on 21st October 2015. Subandh will be handling the Flipkart brand through deeper insight into customer behaviour. He has over 17 years experience in the consumer goods industry and has spent 15 years with Hindustan Unilever. He has also worked with Marico.

ANSWER: Sunscreen

Explanation:
Scientists have found lathering up with sunscreen may protect against cancer, but it is killing coral reefs across the globes. A common UV filtering compound oxybenzone has destroyed the corals by inducing damage in DNA at the larval stage coming in the way of their proper development. 80% of the coral reefs in the Caribbean have been lost so far. Oxybenzone also causes coral bleaching which leads to coral mortality all over the world. Cells from as many as 7 species of corals were killed by oxybenzone and three of these species are already endangered as per the US Endangered Species Act. Oxybenzone also threatens resilience of coral reefs to climate change.

ANSWER: SanDisk Corp

Explanation:
Hard disk drive maker Western Digital has announced it will be purchasing SanDisk Corp for USD 19 billion. This will provide it with better access to flash memory storage chips in mobile and smartphone devices. Record number of deals have been noted in the semiconductor industry. Total value of SanDisk acquisition is based on closing of investment by China backed Tsinghua Holdings Unisplendour. If investment closes before SanDisk acquisition, Western Digital will pay more. Deal aims to add to the adjusted earnings of Western Digital. Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan and Credit Suisse were the financial advisers for this deal while Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and Baker & McKenzie are legal advisers to Western Digital. For SanDisk, the financial adviser was Goldman Sachs while Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is its legal adviser.

ANSWER: Centralised Public Grievances Redress and Monitoring System

Explanation:
Citizens can now register governance related grievances via mobile phones as the mobile application for the CPGRAMS/Centralised Public Grievances Redress and Monitoring System was launched on 21st October 2015. This is a central government portal which addresses grievance redressal will receive complaints which will be addressed by state, department or ministry. A QR-Quick Response code has been provided on the portal which can be scanned onto the smartphone after grievance is sent directly from phone to CPGRAMS. This is a step towards the ART of Governance spelt out as PM Modi’s Vision for Accountability, Responsibility and Transparency. The focus is on making administration responsive, transparent and responsive. The mobile app will also track grievance status. CPGRAMS was launched in 2007 by the ministry. More than 16 lakh grievances have been lodged since January 2012 and in the past 1 year, 9 lakh grievances have been launched and 6.47 lakh cases have been disposed of.

ANSWER: Rear Admiral Satish Namdeo Ghormade

Explanation:
Ministry of Defence on 21st October 2015 divided a single area into Maharashtra and Gujarat Naval Areas and created two separate HQs to be headed by Flag Officer Maharashtra Area and Flag Officer Gujarat Naval Area. The charge of the Flag Officer for Maharashtra Area was taken by Rear Admiral Satish Namdeo Ghormade and Rear Admiral Muralidhar Sadashiv Pawar will now serve as Flag Officer of the Gujarat Naval Area.