Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Oct 26, 2015

ANSWER: The Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India

Explanation:
Bhimtal based butterfly expert on Indian species Peter Smetacek has authored a book “The Synoptic Catalogue of Butterflies of India”. It has been edited by him and retired Additional Director, ZSI, Dr. R. K. Varshney. The catalogue features 1318 new butterfly species in India and gives details of state wise and sub species of butterflies in the state.

The new species belong to six families-the Swallowtails (Papilionidae) 89 species; Skippers (Hesperiidae) 277 species; Whites and Yellows (Pieridae) 92 species; Punches and Judies (Riodiniidae) 19 species; Blues and Hairstreaks (Lycaenidae) 380 species and the Brush-footed butterflies (Nymphalidae) 461 species. Butterflies were assessed based on literature records, museum collections and recent publications. Contributors for the book include experts from Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Russia, France, Nepal and Czech Republic.

ANSWER: Pijush Ganguly

Explanation:
Veteran Bengali actor Pijush Ganguly succumbed to multiple organ failure after an accident where he was critically injured on 25th October 2015. He was 50 years of age at the time of his death. Known for films such as ‘Gaynar Baksho,’ (Aparna Sen), ‘Byomkesh Bakshi,’ (Anjan Dutta) ‘Autograph,’ (Srijit Mukherjee) and ‘Anshumaner Chhabi,’ (Atanu Ghosh), the actor was famous in the industry. CM Mamata Banerjee condoled his demise.

ANSWER: South Africa

Explanation:
In the 5th ODI between India and S. Africa, the latter beat the hosts by 214 runs sealing the first ever bilateral series win in the country. Centuries were scored by AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis attaining a massive 3-2 series win.

ANSWER: Madras

Explanation:
Madras HC has ruled that castration should be performed on child rapists. This would curb crimes against children. In case of child sex offences, the conviction rate is just 2.4 percent and between 2008 to 2014, crimes against children increased by 400 percent. Additional punishment of castration of child rapists would prevent and contain child abuses, the court ruled. Chemical castration has now come into force in several nations including the US. The court passed the judgement on a plea from a foreigner facing pedophile charges in TN. Castration is done on child sex abusers in Poland, Russia, Estonia and nine US states including California, Oregon, Florida, Texas and Washington. S. Korea has become the first Asian nation to make castration of child sex offenders a punishment. Number of cases of child abuse rose from 38,172 in 2012 to 58,224 in 2013 and to 89,423 in 2014 in India.

ANSWER: India

Explanation:
The first global report commissioned by Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering has revealed 20% of 16 to 17 year olds from the United Kingdom and 30% from the US pursue engineering as against 80% in India, the latter being the highest in the world. The report also found India has bridged the gender divide in engineering to a low of 14% in 2015. Globally, while 66% of the men are interested in engineering, the figure is 43% for women.

ANSWER: Nursing

Explanation:
In a good move for Indian nurses in the UK, the British government has included nursing as a profession in the shortage occupation list. This included 30,000 overseas nurses who had earlier been facing the threat of unemployment under new immigration rules. NHS had earlier made the announcement that nurses could stay in UK only if they earned a minimum of £35,000 a year. This meant that a majority of the nurses would have had to leave UK earlier.