Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Oct 30, 2015

ANSWER: 370.50 lakh bales

Explanation:
Country’s total cotton output has been pegged at 370.50 lakh bales for 2015-2016 commencing October 1st, according to an industrial body, CAI or Cotton Association of India. This is 12.25 lakh bales less than 382.75 lakh bales for the cotton season 2014-2015. Impact of this fall in crop will be softened by highest ever opening stock at the commencement of 2015-2016. Domestic consumption of cotton is also on the decline. Crop damage in the northern zone due to the white fly disease has become a major cause for concern. Total crop adjudged in the northern zone equals 47 lakh bales for this year as against 53.50 lakh bales last year. Projected balance sheet drawn by CAI assesses the estimated cotton value for the season to be 463.15 lakh bales as against 53.50 lakh bales in 2014. Projected balance sheet by CAI estimates total cotton output supply at 463.15 lakh bales while consumption is pegged at 325.00 lakh bales leaving additional amount of 138.15 lakh bales.

ANSWER: Euro-VI

Explanation:
India is shifting to Euro VI emission compliant diesel and petrol by 2020 to lower carbon pollution. BS-III equivalent to Euro-III specifications is already being followed throughout the country and BSIV will be extended to the entire country. Revised auto fuel policy is also on the cards which will lead to introduction of BS-VI fuels by the year 2020. Oil refineries make investments of up to INR 80,000 crore in upgradation of petrol and diesel quality to get access to cleaner fuel specifications by 2020. Fuels meeting Euro IV or Bharat Stage IV specifications will be supplied by the nation by April 2017 and BS-V or Euro-V grade fuel will be supplied by April 1, 2020 as part of the earlier plan. Now, the government is planning to switch directly from BS-IV to BS-VI. While BS-IV fuels have 50 ppm sulphur, BS-V and BS-VI grade fuel will have 10 ppm sulphur. Oil refineries have upgraded technology and made investments of over INR 55,000 crore for production as well as supply of BS-III/IV fuels. Additional INR 80,000 crore investment is needed for further upgradation.

ANSWER: Limbs

Explanation:
Amphibian groups around 300 million years prior have regenerated legs and tails like reptiles such as salamanders in a study conducted by Museum fur Naturkunde in Berlin which suggests all land mammals have the ability to regenerate limbs. These extraordinary regenerative capacities were likely lost in the process of evolution.

ANSWER: Disc of young stars

Explanation:
Researchers have discovered unknown component of the Milky Way namely a thin disc of young stars in the central area of the galaxy buried beneath thick clouds of dust. Centre of the Milky Way galaxy consists of numerous old stars, but also has young stars. Researchers used data from VISTA telescope at European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in Chile, between 2010 and 2014. Bulge of the Milky Way contains very young stars of the type called Cepheids. The stars undergo periodic expansion and contraction, taking anywhere from a few days to months to complete the cycle. The 35 classical Cepheids discovered are lower than 100 millions years old. Classical Cepheids provide fresh evidence that newly formed stars are forming in the central region of the Milky Way over the past 100 million years. As it was buried in a thick cloud of dust, this discovery remained untraceable earlier.

ANSWER: Hockey India

Explanation:
Hockey India has signed a 3 year MoU with SAI to enable hockey to retain its position as the leading sport of the nation. SAI will promote hockey to regain top position in the country and it is also among the most popular sports in the world. Sports Authority of India/SAI will work with HI to also improve the coaching and talent identification system in India.

ANSWER: National Tribal Advisory Council

Explanation:
Council is being set up for monitoring and implementation of various tribal welfare schemes. It will be chaired by the Prime Minister and will meet once or twice in a year. By third quarter of the year, 80% of the funds allocated for tribal welfare will be disseminated.

ANSWER: Celltick Mobile Media

Explanation:
Union Ministry of Women and Child Development has launched awareness about Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme in partnership with Celltick Mobile Media India Pvt Ltd. BBBP scheme has been launched to promote gender equity as there has been a steady decline in the number of females born per 1000 males which was 918, according to the 2011 census. This marks the first time the company has collaborated with GoI for a social initiative.

ANSWER: Nepal, China

Explanation:
Nepal on 28th October 2015 has signed an MoU with China to ease fuel crisis through important of different fuel types. MoU was signed between PetroChina and Nepal Oil Corporation and marks the first time that China will be supplying petrol to Nepal. Indian monopoly of providing fuel to Nepal ends with this.

ANSWER: Najib Shah

Explanation:
Senior IRS officer Najib Shah was appointed on 28th October as the chairman of the apex body on indirect taxes, Central Board of Excise and Customers. He will remain in office till he superannuates in 2017. He is a ’79 batch IRS officer and was previously the CBEC Member.

ANSWER: Telangana

Explanation:
US IT major IBM and Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge have signed an MoU for the provision of technology platforms and services in cloud computing for academicians in the state. IBM cloud will be available to faculty and students to utilise for practicals and project work.

ANSWER: MP

Explanation:
MP Government on 28th October 2015 has allowed 33% reservation for women up from the present 30 percent in government jobs. State Cabinet also proposed providing compensation to farmers.

ANSWER: UGC

Explanation:
Union HRD ministry has established a 5 member committee for reviewing UGC fellowships including National Eligibility Test/NET and non NET ones. The former director of IIT-Guwahati Gautam Barua will be heading the panel. Committee members include the following:
- Syed Bari: Central University of Gujarat VC
- Kuldeep Agnihotri- Central University of HP VC
- Rajiv Chandawarkar- Karnataka State Women University VC

ANSWER: Raif Badawi

Explanation:
A Saudi Arabian blogger sentenced to 10 years and 1000 lashes for insulting Muslim clerics, Raif Badawi has been selected for the EU’s acclaimed Sakharov Prize for human rights. This award for freedom of thought is named after Russian scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov and was established in 1988 to honour persons and organisations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms. He was one of 3 nominees for the prize this year alongside opposition movement Mesa de la Unidad Democratic and assassinated Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov.

ANSWER: Comet 67P

Explanation:
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s atmosphere contains molecular oxygen. Chemical analysis of its atmosphere using ROSINA mass spectrometer abroad the Rosetta spacecraft has displayed results suggesting high proportions of molecular oxygen. Molecular oxygen level in the comet ranges from 1 to 10 percent and oxygen is the 4th most common has in the atmosphere of the comet following, CO2, water and CO.

ANSWER: RIL

Explanation:
In a ranking by Platts in 2015, RIL regained top spot among Indian firms on the list, beating competition from ONGC. RIL ranked 14 this year while ONGC ranked 17. RIL had been pushed to number 2 position in 2014 by ONGC has regained overall global ranking this year. This year also marks the maximum number of Indian companies (14) making it to the list.

ANSWER: Two

Explanation:
Bowing to pressures of an ageing society and a lowered workforce, China has eliminated the one child policy. The Chinese Communist Party has allowed couples to have two children which is an advance over 2013 ruling. This is applicable only for couples where one of the parents was a single child. One child policy is meant to lower the population. As per UN estimates, close to 440 million persons in China would exceed 60 by 2050 indicating a massive decline in the labour pool. In the previous year, the working population fell between 15 to 59 by 3.71 million. A question remains if rising living costs will lead to families having more than one child. State media has noted that of 30,000 families which could benefit from the 2013, rules, only 6.7 percent have applied for a second child.

ANSWER: South Korea

Explanation:
Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, South Korea has given operational approval for the 25th reactor in the fifth biggest user of nuclear power in the world. Nuclear operator Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co Ltd (KHNP), will start a test run of Shin Kori No. 3, located in Busan, over 300 km SE of Seoul and the test run will last for 6 months. S. Korea currently runs 24 nuclear reactors supplying a third of the electricity an wants to add 13 more reactors by 2029.

ANSWER: Sanjiv Kapoor

Explanation:
SpiceJet COO Sanjiv Kapoor has put in his papers close to 10 months after the original promoter Ajay Singh took over the budget airline. Kapoor had been appointed by K. Maran in November 2013. Carrier has seen many exits of senior level executives such as Chief Commercial Officer Kaneswaran Avili and IT head Sudhakar Kondisetty.

ANSWER: Indian Energy Exchange

Explanation:
PE firm TVS Capital through the fund TVS Shriram Growth Fund, is set to purchase 4% per cent equity stake in Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) from Bessemer Venture Partners for INR 81 crore. Fund leads a consortium headed by DCB Power Ventures of Dalmia Bharat Group.IEX is co-promoted by Power Trading Corporation of India.

ANSWER: Chapala

Explanation:
Gujarat Meteorological Centre has requested authorities of all ports to host warning signal because of a cyclone in the state’s coast named Chapala lying centred in east central Arabian sea around 1090 km off Mumbai. As per norms, Distant Warning signal No. II (DW II) is hoisted when the system gets intensified into a storm but remains at sea.

ANSWER: Kolkata

Explanation:
India and France signed an MoU to conserve the written heritage of Kolkata Library for development of digital co-operation, sharing of technical and other expertise, competency, skill-building and cultural co-operation between the two countries. The MoU will assist a programme on digitisation of old manuscripts and documents that commenced 7 years ago in France. The government has also announced the building of a National Virtual Library in India.

ANSWER: 9.54%

Explanation:
Schedule Commercial Banks have increased credit by 9.54% to INR 67,83,127 crore in the fortnight closing October 16, as per RBI data. Loans were pegged at INR 61,92,158 crore in the earlier fortnight from INR 62,40,256 crore within the same period in 2014. Deposits rose by 11.25% to INR 91,63,815 crore as against INR 82,36,670 in 2014. Demand and time deposits also registered an increase from 2014.

ANSWER: 16

Explanation:
GoI has approved 16 foreign investment proposals which includes HDFC capital and Ageon Religare Life Insurance Company, adding up to INR 4722 crore. Investment proposals were approved after FIPB approval. 8 proposals have been rejected including Cipla Health Limited and Apollo Hospitals.

ANSWER: Grasshopper

Explanation:
A Chinese student, Wang He from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology has discovered a 120 million year old fossil preserving a 3 cm section of the insect’s wing at Gansu province. Most insects only have wings preserved because the body is easily decomposed. Insect fossil discovered belonged to an ancestor of the modern katydid. Structure of the wing suggests insect could sing like modern counterpart. Fossils of this orthopteran family named Prophalangopsidae have only been found in other regions of China and the world before this. These insects lived in the Cretaceous Period when the earliest flowers started appearing and they ate flowers and plant leaves.