Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Oct 30, 2016

ANSWER: Bhutan

Explanation:
The Union Cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi on 27th Oct 2016 has approved the agreement on Trade, Commerce and Transit between India and Bhutan.

• The agreement was renewed on 29th July 2006 for 10 years.
• Validity of this agreement was extended for one year from 29th July 2016 or till a new agreement comes into force through the exchange of diplomatic notes.
• India provides for a free trade agreement between the two nations and provides for duty free transit of Bhutanese merchandise for trade with third countries.
• The bilateral trade relations between Bhutan and India are governed by the Agreement on Trade, Commerce and Transit between the Governments of India and Bhutan.
• The traditionally unique bilateral relations were linked with trust and understanding between India and Bhutan.
• They have matured over the years and would be further strengthened by execution of the proposed agreement.

ANSWER: Sea ice cap

Explanation:
As the extent of the Arctic Sea Ice, a vast sheath of frozen seawater floating on the Arctic Ocean and the neighbouring seas, shrinks, its oldest and thicker ice has either thinned or melted away, ensuring that the sea ice cap is more vulnerable to the warmed oceans and atmosphere.

• The older ice is disappearing; scientists have likened it to the bulwark of sea ice. A warm summer melts the thin and young ice, but it cannot ensure the end of the older ice.
• The older ice is is weaker as there is less of it and the remaining old ice is broken up and thinner, so the bulwark is not as good as it was previously.
• Direct measurements of sea ice thickness are sporadic and incomplete across the Arctic so scientists have developed sea ice age estimates and tracked their evolution from 1984 to current times.
• A new NASA visualisation of the age of the Arctic Sea Ice shows how sea ice has been undergoing growth and shrinking, spinning, melting in place and drifting out of the Arctic for the past 30 years.
• The old sea ice is melting within the Arctic Ocean during the summertime and this is because the multiyear ice would be considered an ice pack and now small chinks of old ice are interspersed with the new ones.
• Most of the older ice has been lost; in the 1980s, multiyear ice made up 20 percent of the sea ice cover; now it is only about three percent.
• Older ice was the safety net of the Arctic sea ice pack and as it is lost, the likelihood for an ice free summer in the Arctic increases.

ANSWER: ISIS, Boko Haram

Explanation:
India has ranked third among all world nations most inflicted by terrorism and insurgency deaths, after areas ridden with violence by IS and Boko Haram, as per the SC ruling.

• The Chhattisgarh government has also claimed in the apex court that more people were killed in the areas affected by naxalism and terror hit J&K and the involvement of extreme left wing activists adding further to the violence.
• India has ranked third in the world among the nations impacted with terrorism, inflicted with terror deaths after the violence affected under ISIS and Boko Haram.
• Court also passed directions for keeping social activists such as Nandini Sundar out of the area.

ANSWER: None of the above

Explanation:
October 28, 2016 was observed as the National Ayurveda Day across the nation by AYUSH Ministry.

• The Ministry also organised a day-long seminar on national range for the prevention and control of diabetes on the occasion.
• Mission "Madhumedha" was also launched on this occasion through a specially designed National Treatment Protocol for effective management of Diabetes through Ayurveda.
• Advisor to the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy informed states across the country about the decision and the theme will be "Ayurveda for Prevention and Control of Diabetes".
• Mission Madhumedha will be implemented throughout the nation through a specially designed National Treatment Protocol for effective management of Diabetes through Ayurveda.
• Dhanvantari is the God of Ayurvedas and it is fitting that the National Ayurveda Day is observed on Dhanvanthri Jayanthi or Dhanteras.
• State AYUSH directorates, ayurveda educational institutions and pharma companies commemorates the occasion through organisation of public lectures, seminars and exhibitions.
• Health check-up camps and awareness programs were also held on this occasion.
• Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy abbreviated as AYUSH is a governmental body in India associated with developing, education and research in Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Sowa Riga and other Indigenous medicine systems.
• Department was created in March 1995 as the Department of Indian Systems of Medicine and Homeopathy.
• AYUSH received its current name in March 2003- it was operated under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• Ministry of AYUSH was formed w.e.f November 9, 2014 by elevation of the department of AYUSH.
• Minister of state independent charge Shripad Yasso Naik was elected to the 13th LS from Panaji constituency of Goa.

ANSWER: 29th Oct

Explanation:
International Internet Day is celebrated across the world on the 29th of October, 2016. Since the year 2005, the International Internet Day was famously celebrated for commemorating a special day in the history of telecom and technology.

• The sending of the first message which was electronic transferred from one computer to another was in 1969 that day.
• The International Internet Day is also celebrated for initiation of an on line project culminating from society, of the society and for the society.
• International Internet Day project is open to everyone and anyone just as access to the internet is free and open for everyone.
• The International Internet Day celebrates its grand democratic fervour essentially linked to the idea of liberation, where everyone is afforded an equal opportunity and advantage to the share of services connecting the world to each other.
• Internet in the 1960s was known as ARPANET or Advanced Research Projects Agency Network.
• This was the year of 1969 when student programmer at UCLA, Charley Kline transmitted the first ever message.
• The internet is a worldwide publicly accessible series of interconnected computer networks that are involved in data transmission through packet switching, using standard IP protocol.
• Internet has become a cause for celebration worldwide.

ANSWER: Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships 2016

Explanation:
Indian lifter Shivam Saini clinched the silver in senior and gold in junior category at the 2016 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships on 28th Oct 2016.

• Competing in the 94 kg senior men’s weight category, Saini has bagged a silver medal with the lift of 132 in snatch and 168 in clean and jerk for 300 kgs.
• In the junior event, Saini won the top prize as he managed 132 in snatch and 168 in clean and jerk according to a release issued by the Indian Weightlifting Federation.

ANSWER: 7th

Explanation:
Odisha government has set up a fitment committee for implementation of 7th Pay Commission recommendations for employees and pensioners.

• State government will implement the 7th Pay commission recommendations to benefit state government workers and pensioners.
• The 7th Pay Commission is headed by Justice AK Mathur has recommended a 23.55 percent overall hike in pay, allowances, and pensions for central government employees w.e.f January 1, 2016.
• An official estimation has pegged the pay revision requirement at INR 5500 crore per year.
• Currently, the state government has granted INR 29,836 crore per year over salaries and pensions.

ANSWER: Ediciule

Explanation:
In the innermost chamber of the site said to be the tomb of Jesus, a restoration team has peeled away a marble layer for the first time to reach out the original rock surface where the body of Jesus Christ was laid.

• Many historians hold that the original cave identified a few centuries after Jesus’s death as his tomb was obliterated ages ago.
• The archeologist accompanying the restoration team indicated that ground penetrating radar tests determined the cave walls are standing- at a height of six feet and connected to bedick- behind the marbled panels of the chamber at the core of the Jerusalem’s Church of Holy Sepulchre.
• Work is part of a historic renovation project to reinforce and preserve the Edicule, a chamber housing the cave where Jesus is said to have been entombed and resurrected.
• It is the centrepiece of the oldest churches of Christian faith and one of the most important shrines.
• National Geographic is collaborating with Greek restoration experts for documenting the work.
• The 12th century building is sitting on 4th century remains.
• The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the only place where 6 Christian denominations practice their faith at the same site.
• The Edicule was last restored in 1810 after a fire and is in need of reinforcement following years of exposure to humidity and candle smoke.
• A massive iron cage is built around the Edicule by British authorities in 1947 for support; it still stands, but is not enough to support the chamber’s weight.
• Renovations at the holiest spots requires require mutual agreements by church’s various custodians and is hard to secure.
• The denominations guard different pats of the site and object to the slightest of changes.
• Israeli police shut down the building after Israel’s Antiquities Authority deemed it unsafe.
• It prompted Christian denominations to start the repairs.
• Pilgrims lined throughout the day for chance to crouch the tiny room in Edicule.
• They also kneel before a white marble encasing, said to cover the surface hewn from the side of the limestone cave where Jesus’s body was laid prior to his resurrection.
• Church officials closed the Edicule to pilgrims commencing 27th Oct evening and workers used a pulley to slide open the marble slab, in hopes of reaching the burial surface.
• The slab has not been removed since 1550.
• Church officials found a layer of debris encasing another marble slab.
• Main Christian communities that govern the church have allowed a work crew only 60 hours to excavate the inner sanctum.
• Work is on to reach the tomb’s core and analyse it.
• The restoration team wants to seal the core of the tomb before injecting parts of the shrine with mortar for reinforcement so material does not seep inside what is considered to be a holy rock.
• The Edicule’s marble walls had a rectangular window cut into it, as the part of the limestone wall had the tomb of Jesus cut into it.

ANSWER: National Tourism Advisory Council

Explanation:
The government of India has constituted a national tourism advisory council with top officials of leading ministries and key names from the private sector as members take steps to help people to make the nation an international hub.

• The Union tourism ministry on 28th Oct 2016 issued an order which said that this council, with a tenure of 3 years will act as a think tank and advise the government on numerous policy matters relating to tourism.
• Secretaries of Union Home, Finance, Foreign, Culture, Civil Aviation, Urban Development, Road Transport and Highways, Shipping and Drinking Water, Sanitation are members of this council along with chiefs such as the Railway Board and ITDC.

ANSWER: Kristalina Georgieva

Explanation:
World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim announced the appointment of Kristalina Georgieva as the CEO of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association, lending arms for middle income and poor countries known as the World Bank.

• Kristalina is a champion for addressing challenges faced by partner countries, according to Kim.
• Georgieva a Bulgarian national held multiple positions at the World Bank between 1993 and 2010 focusing on economics and sustainable development.
• She also shaped the agenda of the European Commission as a Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response where she managed the largest humanitarian aid budget.
• Georgieva has also served as co-chair of the UNSG’s high level panel on humanitarian financing. She pressed for and secured a more effective system to meet the needs of vulnerable.
• Her appointment will take effect from January 2017.

ANSWER: Daughters of Mother India

Explanation:
Indian National Award winning documentary Daughters of Mother India won the first prize in the Documentary Film category at the sixth CAM International Film Festival.

• This festival was organised by Arabic Egyptian Society for Culture, Media and Arts in Cairo.
• Movie portrays the story of India’s resolve, hope and courage in fighting against sexual abuse and violence.
• It frames the aftermath of the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder on camera.
• CAM International Film Festival was held from Oct 8-13 2016.
• It is organised each year to promote cinema as a means of combating ignorance, terrorism and poverty.
• This year’s edition featured around 92 films from 33 nations in 3 categories: Short Fiction, Documentary and Animation.
• India was the guest of honour at the film gala with 12 entries.
• Egypt is a country linking NE Africa with the Middle East dating to the time of the pharaohs.
• Millennia old monuments site along the fertile Nile River Valley including Giza’s colossal Pyramids and Great Sphinx as well as Luxor’s hieroglyph lined Karnak temple and Valley of Kings tombs.
• Capital Cairo is home to Ottoman landmarks such as the Muhammad Ali Mosque and the Egyptian Museum, a trove of antiquities.
• The Egyptian currency is a pound while the President is Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.