Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Oct 27, 2015

ANSWER: 2.54

Explanation:
Investment through Participatory Notes within India’s capital market rose by INR 2.54 lakh crore or USD 39 billion towards the close of September from the earlier month. Before this, investment through this route had been declining in 3 months from June to August. This marks the highest investment of P-Notes since February 2008. As per SEBI data, total value of P-Notes investment in Indian markets (equity, debt and derivatives) increased to INR 2,53,875 crore at September-end, from INR 2,53,310 crore in the previous month.

ANSWER: Sunderbans Tiger

Explanation:
From the 12 species highlighted by National Geographic in current volume, Sunderbans tiger is predicted to face maximum threat. Predicted 11 inch rise above sea levels from 2000 will destroy most tiger habitat within this region according to a WWF led study. Bangladesh Sunderbans is set to decline by 96% as far as tiger habitats are concerned and number of breeding individuals will fall below 20. Other species said to suffer from climate change include woodland caribou, Arctic fox, spectacled eider (a northern duck) and Bengal tiger. Scientists from World Bank and IESWM have also sounded the alarm over shrinking tiger habitat in the Indian Sunderbans. Scientists found 11 islands that will disappear over the next 30 years on account of rising sea level of which 3 islands are tiger habitats.

ANSWER: Ganga River Dolphin Census

Explanation:
Census was conducted under “My Ganga My Dolphin” project by WWF and forest department under the National Mission for Clean Ganga. Survey found 1263 dolphins in UP as against 671 in 2012 census. Survey also found there were 116 dolphins in a 215 km stretch of river from Allahabad to Varanasi, the confluence of Ganga and Gomti. Ganga River Dolphin Census was conducted following a survey of 700 community members across 80 villages across the river. Stretches of rivers like Gandhak and Rapti recorded an increase while Narora recorded a decrease. No dolphins were found in Ken, Son and Ramganga.

ANSWER: M. S. Dhoni

Explanation:
Indian skipper M. S. Dhoni climbed up two rungs to sixth place in ICC batsmen rankings released on 26th October 2015. He holds a 11 point advantage over Shikar Dhawan. Other cricketers who experienced gains include Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma. Captain Virat Kohli is second after scoring 3 sets of 100 runs in 5 matches. Hashim Alma dropped to fifth place. For bowling, Mitchell Starc from Australia retained the top spot.

ANSWER: Second

Explanation:
India has retained second place in ICC ODI rankings despite 2-3 series defeat to S. Africa in Mumbai. S. Africa reclaimed third position in the rankings. Skipper AB. de Villiers retained his number one ranking in the latest ICC ranking.

ANSWER: World’s first 3D blood vessel bio printer

Explanation:
Chinese firm Sichuan Revotek has said a considerable breakthrough has been received through self developed 3D bio-printer and cloud computing platform. This 3d blood vessel bio-printer makes it easy to produce personalised functional organs. Through this innovation, the stem based 3D bio-printing technology has been plastered. Blood vessel carry nutrients to organs and play a vital role in organ formation. The research team developed a new bio-ink called "Biosynsphere", whose primary goal is the personalised stem cell bio-printing to pave the way for organ regeneration.

ANSWER: Entorhinal cortex

Explanation:
Young adults with increased risk of Alzheimer’s from a genetic perspective have activation patterns in brain region critical for spatial navigation. The grid cell system in the entorhinal cortex was exampled by German researchers. In this cortex, grid cells fire in spatial grid pattern. Risk carriers have a less stable grid pattern in the entorhinal cortex decades before they develop this dementia. They also moved less frequently in centre of virtual landscape which suggests altered navigation strategy.

ANSWER: Earthquakes

Explanation:
Earthquakes can be the cause of changes in earth’s crust close to 6,000 km away, changing the ability to tolerate stresses for a new weeks, according to researchers. Scientists have found that the earth is interconnected and dynamic whereby one large, massive earthquake can create cascading sequence of events 1000s of km away. While the surface wave from the earthquake passing through another fault region causes frictional properties that ensure surfaces are locked together, elasticity allows crust to withstand strain and stress state can lead to failure. While surface waves pass through, the properties rearrange and change. This discovery was made by examining the 2012 earthquake off the coast of North Sumatra in the Indian Ocean.
The earthquake, which had a magnitude of 8.6, is known to have been followed by two earthquakes in Japan with a magnitude greater than 5.5.

ANSWER: RoboBee

Explanation:
For the first time, scientists have designed RoboBee, an insect like robot smaller than paperclip which can fly and swim. Scientists designed the robot using the puffin as a model. This micro robot smaller than a paperclip flies and hovers like an insect, flapping its tiny, nearly invisible wings 120 times per second. RoboBee is so small it cannot penetrate the surface tension of water.

ANSWER: Jurm

Explanation:
A massive 7.5 earthquake has struck Pakistan and Afghanistan leading to the death of over 200 persons, according to USGS. National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad has pegged the quake intensity at 7.7. Quake’s epicentre was Jurm in NE Afghanistan, 250 km from Kabul at the depth of 213.5 km according to USGS.

ANSWER: Videocon d2H Limited

Explanation:
Videocon d2h Limited, India’s most rapidly growing DTH service and most valued company on NASDAQ by market cap, announced the appointment of Gitanjali Kirloskar as Independent Director, subject to approval by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. She was also a director in Kirloskar Systems Limited and charged several trade associations such as FICCI. She set up the first NPO between India and Japan called the India Japan Initiative.

ANSWER: Deakin University of Business and ISB

Explanation:
Deakin University of Australia and ISB will collaborate in several areas including research, teaching and student exchange programmes. ISB has indicated that two institutions have signed a MoA internationalising the curriculum and development of innovative teaching practices.

ANSWER: New Delhi

Explanation:
3rd India-Africa Forum Summit kicked off in New Delhi on 26th October 2015 with a meeting among the senior officials of the host nation and 54 countries from the African continent.This marks the first time all 54 African nations will be meeting outside the content with 40 heads of state expected to attend. Two previous summits were held in 2008 and 2011.

ANSWER: Sin Tax

Explanation:
Sin tax is an excise tax levied on products such as alcohol, tobacco and others which are considered bad for health and communities. It will be included under the biggest tax reform in the country GST. GST will be operational from April 1, 2016. This tax is used to attract higher tax revenues.

ANSWER: AP

Explanation:
Government of Andhra Pradesh in October 2015 signed a MoC for development of economic infrastructure and a MoU to develop Amaravati with the Government of Japan. The primary goal is to increase industrial development through effective policy coordination and focus on development of industry, ports and super critical power stations. AP Finance Department and JBIC have also signed an agreement to develop the state’s new capital city, Amravati.

ANSWER: 30

Explanation:
India’s elite disaster mitigation combat force, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in October 2015 partnered 30 Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) in order to develop mutual understanding and enhance capabilities to jointly tackle man-made or natural emergencies. The coordination is between NDRF and PSUs like GAIL, ONGC and Air India. This is the first initiative of its kind which involves joint action by the NDRF and the PSUs to mitigate the impact of disasters. NDRF was instituted in 2006 and currently has 11 battalion forces.