Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Oct 4, 2015

ANSWER: International agency for solar policy and application

Explanation:
India has decided as part of its post 2020 climate plan to anchor global solar alliance INSPA which is the International Agency for Solar Policy and Application of countries situated between Cancer and Capricorn tropics. According to World Resources Institute, per capita emissions of India equal 2.44 metric tonnes as against 8.13 metric tonnes by China. India may be the third largest GHG emitter, but it accounts for less than 7 percent of the global share. Indian government is looking to increase share of clean energy in total energy mix by close to 40% by 2030. Climate action plan is called INDC. Besides India, 147 other nations have submitted their INDCs to the UNFCCC.

ANSWER: 4th

Explanation:
Kingdom of Lesotho celebrates Independence Day on October 4th 2015
President of India Pranab Mukherjee congratulated the people of Lesotho on their independence day (October 4th 2015). India and Lesotho have a longstanding bilateral relationship. Lesotho opened a Resident Mission in New Delhi in the year 2005. First ever exchange of visits took place in 2003. The bilateral Joint Commission was also set up between the two countries. Major items of Indian imports from Lesotho comprise wool, fine or coarse animal hair, horsehair yarn & woven fabric, apparel and clothing accessories. Duty Free Tariff Preference (DFTP) Scheme announced by PM at the India-Africa Forum Summit in New Delhi on 8 April, 2008 has been offered to the Government of Lesotho. 1300 Indian expatriates in Lesotho are working as teachers, accountants and other professionals and businesses.

ANSWER: Sarat Kumar Acharya

Explanation:
Sarat Kumar Acharya on 1st October 2015 assumed office as CMD of NLC succeeding B. Surender Mohan who demitted office on 30th September 2015 following superannuation. Before this, Acharya was Director HR in NLC. He as worked in numerous PSUs like BHEL, SAIL and NTPC. An alumnus of Ravenshaw College and Utkal University in Odisha, Acharya is now heading a navratna government of India enterprise. NLC was established in 1956 and it is headquartered in Chennai. There are three thermal power stations under NLC.

ANSWER: Lindsay Kline

Explanation:
Former Australian Test player Lindsay Kline has passed away at the age of 81. He is best remembered for tackling the last ball of the first tied Test match. He was a slow, left arm spinner. He took part in 13 tests during the 1950s and 1960s. He also played 88 first class matches where he claimed 276 wickets at 27.39.

ANSWER: Flipkart

Explanation:
ItzCash has announced a partnership with online marketplace company Flipkart to reach out to the next billion segment. i. e those without access to debit or credit cards. Partnership is in form of a co branded store called ItzCash World which will be accessible across more than 75,000 franchisee stores. ItzCash has been serving the under banked segment through prepaid payment instruments since 2006. Partnership will leverage existing retail presence at more than 75,000 ItzCash World outlets and this multi service payments solutions company has announced it will expand its presence in Tier 2 and 3 cities.

ANSWER: Microsoft-Intel

Explanation:
Redmond based IT major Microsoft has acquired video game engine and 3-D physics provider Havoc from American chip maker Intel. Havok’s business model includes licensing physics technology to developers. It was founded in the late 90s in Dublin before Intel purchased it in the year 2007. Previous partnerships of Havok include Ubisoft, Destiny and Dark Souls. It also developed special effects for movies such as Matrix.

ANSWER: 98%

Explanation:
Indian gas or petrol exports will lower by 98% in the year 2019, as per Fitch Group’s BMI Research. It will become the second largest importer of gasoline by 2024 after Indonesia. India’s net gasoline exports will decline by 97.8% over 5 years, from 306,800 bpd to 6760 bpd in 2019. Rapid growth in domestic demand in India will drive this decline. India will overtake China, Australia and Malaysia as consumption growth falls in these countries. Rise in domestic demand will create an import outlet for growing gasoline production set to rise 10.3% over the coming 5 years. Currently, India is the largest gasoline exporter in Asia Pacific accounting for majority of exports to Asia and the Middle East. This accounts for half of India’s total refined fuel exports in 2014. India’s refined fuel shipments to Middle East fell by 14.3% over 2013-2014.

ANSWER: Haryana

Explanation:
A wildlife census of the Haryana Aravalis will be carried out to mark the start of World Wildlife Week. This census will help in determining the population of animal species in the Aravalis and play a good role in protecting wildlife extant in the area. Similar census has recently been carried out at Kalesar National Park, Yamunanagar. It was also announced that Gurgaon will get its own forest in Sikanderpur in an area between 250 to 300 acres and the expanse of Bhondsi will be made into an ecotourism destination. Mahatma’s ideals of non violence towards wildlife mark the celebration of the World Wildlife Week commencing on Gandhi Jayanti.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Melting glaciers continue to erode the land causing climate change to impact the shape of the planet. Antarctica is warming up and glaciers are going to move faster and become more erosive, adding to the impact of climate change in the polar regions. Faster moving glaciers are responsible for depositing more sediment in downstream basins and continental shelves, creating an impact on fisheries, dams and access to provide potable freshwater in hilly communities. Researchers also found after comparing the glaciers in Patagonia and Antarctic Peninsula, glaciers in warmer Patagonia melted faster causing a greater degree of erosion. Scientists found that glaciers erode 100 to 1000 times faster in Patagonia than Antarctica.

ANSWER: Carbon

Explanation:
The limit of industry’s capacity to shrink transistors beyond a certain size in the semi conductor business is called red brick wall. But IBM scientists have now found a new way to make transistors smaller through the use of parallel rows of carbon based nanotubes. Advancement is based on a fresh way to connect super thin metal writes to nanotubes, making it easier to shrink the width of the wires without increasing electrical resistance.

ANSWER: INC

Explanation:
Politician and veteran leader Buta Singh has rejoined the party on October 2nd, a year away from assembly elections in Punjab. He is from the Balmiki community and was welcomed back by leaders from the Congress. In the previous 2 LS elections, he fought as an independent candidate from Jalore in Rajasthan. A union home minister during the late 80s in the Rajiv Gandhi government, he was inducted as Bihar Governor, a post he retained from 2004 to 2006. His son, Arvinder Singh Lovely, is a member of BJP.

ANSWER: SAIL

Explanation:
Dr. Anup K. Pujari assumed additional charge as CMD of SAIL on 1st October 2015 and is currently MSME secretary, GoI. He is a 1980 batch IAS officer of Karnataka cadre with experience in PSUs. He has also served as DG of Foreign Trade in Commerce Department and Secretary at the Ministry of Mines before this.

ANSWER: Ola

Explanation:
Transformational leadership was recognised and honoured by the Forbes India Leadership Award. Outstanding startup of the year was Ola founded by Ankit Bhati and Bhavish Aggarwal. Next gen entrepreneur of the year was Siddhartha Lal ( Eicher Motors Ltd) and Entrepreneur with Social Impact was Samit Ghosh from Ujjivan Financial Services Pvt Ltd. Conscious capitalist company for the year was Godrej Consumer Products Ltd and Amul. Best CEO for MNC company went to Uday Shankar of Star India Pvt Ltd. Arundhati Bhattacharya (SBI) was honoured with the best CEO award in the public sector. In the private sector, the best CEO award went to C. P. Gurnani of Tech Mahindra Ltd. Lifetime Achievement Award for the year went to R.C. Bhargava of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd while Uday Kotak was judged Entrepreneur for the year for Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. The Forbes leadership award was instituted in the year 2011 by American business periodical Forbes and awards are given in 9 categories each year.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Tony de Brum, the foreign minister of Marshall islands and the people of this nation were honorary recipients, the other three awardees, Sheila Watt-Cloutier (Canada) for her work with Inuits of Arctic, Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera (Uganda) for her efforts for the LGBTI community and Gino Strada and his organisation ‘Emergency’ (Italy) for looking after war victims from Sudan to Afghanistan will share the 200,000 Euro prize money. This award is also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize. It was established during the 1980s by philanthropist Jakob von Uexkull and presented at the Swedish Parliament to those who offer practical and admirable responses to urban challenges facing humanity.