Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Oct 27, 2016

ANSWER: 13

Explanation:
India has ranked 13^th in the protection of minority investors. Global ranking in terms of protection of minority investors has slipped three notches to 13, but is much higher than the 130th rank attained by India for ease of doing business.

• Sub-ranking for the protection of minority investors is topped jointly by New Zealand and Singapore
• Others that ranked higher than India are Hong Kong, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, the UK, Georgia, Canada, Norway the UAE, Slovenia and Israel
• In World Bank’s Doing Business report, India just moved one place from last year to 130
• Others that ranked higher than India are Hong Kong, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, the UK, Georgia, Canada, Norway, the UAE, Israel and Slovenia
• In the latest World Bank Doing Business report, New Zealand topped the list while Singapore was ranked second
• The report said protection of minority investors indicator measures the protection of shareholders in corporate governance
• According to the report, India carried out an ambitious, multi-year overhaul of its Companies Act, bringing Indian firms in line with global standards
• This is more so in respect of accountability and corporate governance practices while ensuring businesses contribute more to shared prosperity through a quantified and legislated CSR requirement
• Corporate regulation is an ongoing process, as per the new actions taken by the NDA government
• Two sets of amendments were released in August 2014 and May 2015
• A committee has been tasked with identifying more amendments to the Act and involving recommendations and concerns from private sector stakeholders and regulatory bodies
• India’s score increased in 3 of 6 indices of the protecting minority investors indicator set
• To simplify administrative requirements, the minimum paid in capital was abolished
• For instilling greater transparency, disclosure requirements especially in relation to related party transactions were initiated
• Bringing Indian firms in line with global standards, the Act increased disclosure requirements, particularly related party transactions
• India also became the first economy in the world with a quantified and legislated corporate social responsibility requirement
• Full fledged reforms can give policymakers the opportunity to innovate and sends a strong signal to the business community, the report said.

ANSWER: New Zealand

Explanation:
The World Bank Group on 25th October 2016 released the report entitled Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All.

• It is the 14th report in a series of annual reports measuring the regulations that promote business activity as opposed to those that constrain it
• Data in Doing Business 2017 report are current as per June 1, 2016
• Indicators are used to analyse economic outcomes and identify the nature of reforms that have been brought about through business regulation
• It finds that entrepreneurs in 137 economies saw improvements in local regulatory frameworks in the previous year- between June 2015 and 2016, the report documented 283 business reforms
• Reforms reducing the complexity and cost of regulatory processes were common in 2015-2016
• The next most common reforms were in the areas of paying taxes, obtaining credit and trading across borders
• In its global country rankings of business efficiency, the coveted first rank was awarded to New Zealand
• Singapore followed second and Denmark was at the third positions
• Hong Kong SAR, China, Korea, Norway, the UK and United States as well as Sweden were among the top 10 countries in international rankings
• Brunei Darussalam, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Belarus, Indonesia, Serbia, Georgia, and Pakistan, the UAE and Bahrain were top gainers
• These top 10 rank improving countries implemented 48 regulatory reforms marking ease of doing business
• All the economies in the region implemented the reforms easing the process of doing business, though Europe and Central Asia were regions with the most number of economies implementing at least one reform
• Developing countries carried out more than 75 percent of the 283 reforms in the past year
• Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for over one-quarter of all reforms
• Starting a business takes 21 days worldwide compared with 46 days 10 years ago
• It also features expansions to the Paying Taxes indicator to cover post-filing processes such as tax refunds, tax audits and administrative tax appeals to better comprehend the overall tax environment
• It also studies procurement in 78 economies across 5 main areas: accessibility and transparency, bid security, payment delays, incentives for MSMEs and complaint mechanisms
• Doing Business includes a gender dimension in 4 of 11 topic sets- Starting a business, registering property and enforcing contract presenting a gender dimension for the first time this year
• The report features 6 case studies in areas of getting electricity, gaining credit, legal rights, credit information, protection of minority investors, paying taxes and trading across borders
• East Asia and the Pacific is home to two of the world’s leading 10 economies– Singapore, the Hong Kong SAR, China and two of the top 10 improvers– Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam
• The economies of the region implemented close to 45 reforms to improve the ease of carrying out business
• The Europe and Central Asia was a major reformer in the past year, with Belarus, Georgia, Serbia and Kazakhstan among the top 10 improvers in the world
• Business reform activity accelerating in latin America and the Caribbean with over 2/3 of the region’s economies implementing around 32 reforms in the past year, compared with 24 reforms in the previous year
• MENA region saw the most reforms carried out in the past year since 2009, with over 35 reforms in 15 of the region’s 20 economies
• UAE and Bahrain were among the world’s top 10 improvers
• In South Asia, 5 of the region’s 8 economies implemented a total of 11 reforms in the past year as against nine in the previous year
• Pakistan, which is among the world’s top 10 improvers, implemented several reforms as did India and Sri Lanka
• African economies stepped up massive pace of reforms as well
• India moved one rank up to the 130th position
• This marginal improvement came, marking slight improvement in four indicators- getting electricity, enforcing contracts, trading across borders and registering property
• In the 2017 rankings, the only major improvement for India was seen in getting electricity
• In terms of starting a business, Indian ranking went down to 155 from 151 last year
• This was also true for registering a property
• For resolving insolvency, the position of the country slid a single rank to 136
• India’s ranking in trading across borders fell by 10 spots to 143 though the World Bank recognised Indian reforms in making imports and exports easier through the launch of the ICEGATE portal
• The ranking covers data from Delhi and Mumbai, with weights of 53 and 47 percent respectively

ANSWER: Both a and b are the same

Explanation:
NASA has planted lettuce on the International Space Station to learn how to grow fresh food in space- helping astronauts prepare for future manned mission to Mars

• Farmers on Earth are planting leafy greens for the fall growing season with astronauts aboard the ISS are planting the third on-orbit crop of red romaine lettuce
• NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough initiated the Veg-03 experiment, one of his first science assignments as a new crew member aboard the orbiting lab
• The study is a validation of tools and procedures to grow plants and provide fresh food for astronauts
• Members of the Veggie team examined the crops from the Experiment Monitoring Area located in Space Station Processing Facility at NASA Kennedy Space Centre in Florida
• The scientists could remotely watch Kimbrough’s actions and ensure he did not encounter any challenges with activity or hardware
• Plant pillows are small pouches containing a growth medium, fertiliser and seeds; for growing them, astronauts simply add a bit of water.
• Astronauts on future long-duration space missions will be able to grow their own food to supplement their diets
• The new Veg-3 crop will be the Veggie’s team’s first on-orbit attempt at a new, repetitive harvest technique termed Cut-And-Come-Again

ANSWER: Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union Awards

Explanation:
All India Radio’s entry “Diary of a Tiger” in Oct 2016 won the first prize in the community service announcement category of the prestigious Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union award for 2016

• Diary of a Tiger was declared the winner at an award ceremony held in Bali, Indonesia on the sidelines of ongoing 53rd ABU General Assembly and Associated Meetings
• Abhinay Srivastava, the programme executive of AIR Allahabad, received his award by Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union in association with Radio Republic Indonesia and Ministry of Communication and Informatics, Indonesia
• Diary of a Tiger is an 89 second spot in Hindi on the loss of forest and decreasing natural habitat of tigers
• It reflects through notes inscribed by the successive generation of tigers in a diary format on their gradual decreasing numbers due to apathetic behaviour of human beings

The prize includes 6 categories:

1. Drama
2. Documentary
3. News Reporting
4. Community Service Announcement (CSA)
5. Interactive Programmes
6. Innovative Programmes
• AIR has submitted entries in 4 categories namely Drama, Documentary, CSA and Innovative Categories

ANSWER: Jason McCracken

Explanation:
The International Hockey Federation/FIH on 25th Oct 2016 appointed New Zealand’s Jason McCracken as the CEO

• He will take over as FIH on February 2017, replacing Kelly Fairweather leaving for International Tennis Federation after 6 years in the role
• McCracken is a renowned figure in hockey having served in Olympic and World Cups as umpire besides being an FIH committee member and technical official for over 20 years
• McCracken’s recent appointment was technical delegate at the Rio 2016 Olympics and tournament director at the 2014 World Hockey Cup in the Hague, Netherlands.
• The IHF is a global governing body of field and indoor field hockey
• Its HQ was in Lausanne, Switzerland
• It is responsible for Field Hockey’s major international tournaments, notably the World Cup
• Founded in Paris in the 1920s by Paul Leautey, the FIH merged with the International Federation of Women’s Hockey Associations

ANSWER: The 1970 final World Cup against Italy

Explanation:
Well-known football legend Carlos Alberto Torres passed away on 25th Oct 216 at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil at the age of 72

• He scored one of the greatest goals in World Cup history in the 1970 final against Italy
• Torres was a Brazilian footballer
• He is regarded as one of the best defenders of all times
• He captained Brazil national team to victory in the 1970 World Cup scoring the fourth goal in the final
• This is considered one of the greatest goals in the history of the tournament
• He is also known as ‘O Capitão do Tri and is a member of the 20th Century World Team
• He was named by Pele as one of the world’s best living players in the FIFA 100 list in 2004
• He was also inducted into the Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame and was a member of the US National Soccer Hall of Fame
• In January 2013, he was named one of six ambassadors of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil