Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Sep 01, 2016

ANSWER: 75 percent

Explanation:
To get stalled construction projects moving, Indian cabinet has approved new arbitration norms resulting in quicker resolutions for companies.

• As per the fresh norms, government of India will release 75 percent of amounts against margin free guarantees in cases where arbitral awards have been given yet contested
• Amount released will be used by contractors to complete projects or pay off debts
• RBI and Department of Financial Services will develop a policy to deal with stressed assets in the realty sector
• Conciliation board has also been suggested by all new construction projects
• Government also approved the dissolution of the Central Inland Water Transport Corp as part of the move to close down irretrievable cases
• Voluntary retirement scheme was implemented for this corp in 2015; it was incorporated in February 1967
• Cabinet also approved radical changes in the FDI regime that sought to increase FDI to 100 percent in defence and liberalised the policy for several other sectors

ANSWER: Aishwaryaa Dhanush

Explanation:
United Nations Assistant Secretary General and UN Women Deputy ED Lakshmi Puri on 29th August 2016 announced the appointment of Aishwarya a Rajinikanth Dhanush as the UN Women’s Advocate for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in India

• Aishwaryaa is a film director, classical writer and dancer who will raise awareness of UN Women’s core messages on gender equality and women’s empowerment across India
• Act will boost organisation’s efforts to close the gender gap and attain a more equal world- planet 50-50 by 2030
• Aishwaryaa has joined others who have teamed up with Un Women to work for gender equality and empowerment of women including:
  • Farhan Akhtar
  • Sania Mirza
  • Emma Watson
  • Nicole Kidman
  • Anne Hathaway
• Aishwaryaa is a leading firm director and startup entrepreneur
• She has debuted along with husband Dhanush
• She has launched 10 Entertainment, a digital medium to promote short film content and new digital ventures
• She is also working on a book called “Standing on an Apple Box.”

ANSWER: Novak Djokovic

Explanation:
The new ATP Player Council elected World No.1 Novak Djokovic as President and Kevin Anderson as Vice President ahead of the start of the US Open

• Djokovic won his first round of victory over Jerzy Janowicz
• New ATP Player Council will hold its first meeting in NY
• Djokovic had previously been a member of the ATP Player Council in 2008-2010
• The ATP Board of Directors comprises three Player Representatives, three Tournament Representatives, and ATP Executive Chairman and President Kermode.

ANSWER: Amar Chitra Katha

Explanation:
The Ministry of Urban Development on 31st August 2016 signed an MoU with Amar Chitra Katha to publish and distribute a special edition of the comic book

• Comic book will focus on Swachh Bharat Mission
• 32 page comic book will carry messages pertaining to sanitation and solid waste management
• The book will cover series of inspirational stories for the mission, cleanliness rankings, public ambassadors and environmental impact
• There will also be a section on organising community cleanliness drives
• A special edition comic book will be created in English and also translated into Hindi
• Ministry of Urban Development will also distribute the comic book to national school boards such as CBSE, Navodaya Vidyalaya and Kendriya Vidyalaya

ANSWER: Slovakia

Explanation:
President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee has extended greetings and felicitations to government and people of Slovak Republic on the eve of their Constitution Day September 1, 2016

• Andrej Kiska, President of the Slovak Republic was also greeted
• In July 2016, Slovakia assumed the Presidency of the EU
• President of India also extended greetings to Uzbekistan celebrating their independence day on the same date
• President of the Republic of Uzbekistan is Islam Karimov. In June 2016, Uzbekistan successfully hosted the SCO Summit in which India signed the historic Memorandum of Obligations towards SCO membership
• The 2 countries are bound by historical and cultural linkages

ANSWER: Lt Gen Bipin Rawat

Explanation:
Lt.Gen MMS Rai retired relinquishing the post of Vice Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army

• Lt Gen MMS Rai was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers in 15th December, 1976
• Lt Gen Bipin Rawat will take over as VCOAS of the Indian Army on September 1, 2016
• He was commissioned in the Fifth Battalion of the Eleven Gorkha Rifles in December 1978, from IMA Dehradun
• Prior to taking over as the VCOAS, Lt Gen Bipin Rawat tenanted the appointment of the GOC-in-C, Southern Command.
• Following the PM’s directive to conduct Annual Joint Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief exercises, the Armed Forces in collaboration with Central Armed Police Forces and civil administration conducted the following HADR exercises
• Jalrahat
• Prakampana
• Sahayta

ANSWER: 35

Explanation:
World Bank has recently released a Logistics Performance Index report entitled Connecting to Complete 2016

• The Logistics Performance Index Report is published by World Bank every 2 years
• India has been ranked 35 among 160 countries to rank of 54 in 2014
• In terms of six components of the LPI that is Customs, Infrastructure, International Shipments, Logistics Quality and Competence, Tracking and Tracing and Timeliness, India has ranked between 32 to 42 range.
• LPI is an interactive benchmarking tool created to help countries identify the challenges and opportunities they face in performance on trade logistics and what they can do to improve performance
• LPI is based on worldwide survey of stakeholders on the ground providing federal on logistics friendliness of the countries they operate and those which they trade
• Improvement in India’s rank in Logistics Performance Index adequately establishes steady performance in competitiveness in manufacturing and trade that also acts as a growth driver of the Make in India programme.

ANSWER: XT

Explanation:
US tech giant Microsoft has sold MSN China- a Chinese edition of its global web portal- to local partner Xichuang Technology founded by the top executive of the portal

• Microsoft said on its official blog that it has signed an agreement to sell MSN China
• Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed
• Xichuang Technology was cofounded in 2015 by Liu Zhenyu, MSN China’s former general manager
• According to the report, Microsoft’s MSN China portal did not take off due to government regulation and competition from local rivals
• It has strong rivals like Sina and Tencent
• China is still one of its strategic markets
• After selling off the unit, Microsoft will continue to invest in China in other businesses including computing and cloud services

ANSWER: 1947

Explanation:
Numerous representatives of Myanmar’s ethnic tribes gathered in the country’s capital city for historic peace talks to end separatist insurgencies that have claimed many lives
The 5 day talks have been called in Naypitaw by new government led by Aung San Suu Kyi

Khun Than Myint was the facilitator of the meeting, whose official title is Union Peace Conference — 21st Century Panglong.

The Panglong Agreement was brokered in 1047 by Gen. Aung San

The 1947 deal guaranteed ethnic minority the right to secede and autonomy if they worked with the federal government to break away from Britain altogether

Aung San was assassinated the following year and the deal fell through

The first uprising launched by Kachin insurgents soon began after independence

Other ethnic groups have taken up arms as well

Rebel armies control remote territories rich in jade and timber located in north and east along the border with China and Thailand, representing various ethnic groups that resisted Burmanisation, a push by the ethnic minority in Burma to propagate language, religion and culture in ethnic minority regions.