Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Sep 07, 2016

ANSWER: Chile

Explanation:
India and Chile have expanded their preferential trade agreement with the South American nation offering duty concessions on as many as 1798 goods to Indian exporters compared to 178 items earlier.

• India, in turn, has offered concessions to Chile on 1031 products as against 296 earlier.
• Development would help both nations to boost bilateral trade from the level of USD 2.64 billion in 2015-2016
• India’s export to Chile comprises transport equipment, pharmaceuticals, yarns of polyester fibre, tyres and tubes, chemicals, textiles, readymade garments, plastic goods, leather, engineering goods, imitation jewellery, sports goods and handicrafts
• Major items of import are copper ore, iodine, copper cathodes, molybdenum ores, lithium carbonates, metal scrap, chemicals, pulp and waste paper, fruits and nuts, fertilisers and machinery.
• Indian export basket with Chile is diversified and keeping the wide variety of tariff lines offered by Chile, expanded PTA will benefit India
• PTA was earlier signed between India and Chile in march 2006 and came into force from August 2007
• Chile has been cooperating with India at the internal fora and expansion of the PTA will enhance trade and economic relations between the two nations
• Expansion will be an important landmark in relations between India and LAC countries (Latin American and Caribbean countries)
• PTA is likely to result in doubling of exports in future.
• Among the LAC countries, Chile is the third largest trading partner of India during 2015-2016
• India’s bilateral trade with Chile stood at USD 2.64 billion with exports at USD 0.68 billion and imports at USD 1.96 billion in 2015-2016
• Meanwhile, Indian naval ship Trikand has arrived at Dar Es Salaam on a visit s part of deployment to East Coast of Africa and Island Nations in the Western Indian Ocean
• The last such visit by IN ship to Tanzania was in March 2016 when Indian Naval ship Sutlej visited Dar Es Salaam as part of Survey deployment.
• The current visit seeks to strengthen the existing bonds of friendship between India and Tanzania and reaffirm India’s commitment towards enhancing maritime cooperation between the two nations.

ANSWER: Leprosy Case Detection Campaign

Explanation:
In line with the PM’s goal to eradicate leprosy from India, the National Leprosy Education Programme has a new component. The biggest Leprosy Case Detection Campaign has been launched in India on 5th September 2016 across 149 districts of 19 states and ITs.

• This campaign will cover 1656 blocks/urban areas of the district and screen around 32 crore people for leprosy
• 297604 teams will visit and screen family members for leprosy
• Districts with prevalence of more than 1 case per 10000 people in the past three years have been included in the campaign
• LCDC is the first initiative of its kind, where each and every member of the targeted population will be examined by a search team constituting one male and female volunteer at household levels
• Campaign aims at early detection of leprosy in affected persons so that they will be protected from physical deformity and disability through timely treatment
• The first LCDC was launched in March-April 2016 in 50 districts of 7 states namely Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, MP, Maharashtra, Odisha and UP
• A population of 6.8 crores was covered during this campaign where 65427 suspected cases were found of which 4120 cases were confirmed

ANSWER: Natural Gas

Explanation:
Union Minister of State (IC) for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan launched the #Gas4India campaign aimed at promoting the use of gas in the country.

• Public and private sector companies have now joined hands to promote natural has sector
• #Gas4India is a unified, cross county, multimedia, multi event campaign to communicate benefits of natural gas as a fuel for choice.
• Campaign includes social engagement via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and the official blogsite as well as hyper local offline events
• Country is moving towards a gas based economy
• It is working to increase share of gas from present 6.5 percent
• Government will take steps to harness synthetic gas from CBM and promote Bio CNG and PNG.
• New LNG terminals in India are also coming up
• Issues of road cutting fee, uniform tax for PNG, provisioning of PNG infrastructure for upcoming smart cities was also part of the deliberations.

ANSWER: Sri Lanka

Explanation:
The announcement was made at the 69th Session of the WHO Regional Committee for SE Asia region underway in Colombo.

• WHO on 5th September declared Sri Lanka malaria free after certifying the life threatening disease has been completely eliminated in the island
• Sri Lanka has developed well calibrated, responsive policies and changes in strategy
• Sri Lanka’s Mathriapala Sirisena and Ministry of Public Health of the DPRK were also felicitated with Excellence in Public Health Awards at the function by WHO
• With regard to Malaysia, India is currently in the control phase
• It is working to reach pre-elimination by 2017 and compete elimination thereafter according to a 2015 report of the WHO

ANSWER: Fuji Electric

Explanation:
The Japanese company formed a 51:49 JV with Gemco, a Faridabad based leading manufacturer of industrial automation and power control systems as part of the plan to expand business operations in India.

• JV established a new entity in India Fuji Gemco which had investments from both companies
• Fuji Electric has invested approximately USD 200 million to expand outside Japan business from 2013-2015
• India is a significant market for the company
• It is estimating that industrial power electronics market in India (including industrial infrastructure and power electronic devices) is set to grow at 9 percent between 2016 and 2018.
• India will contribute to 30 percent of the overseas sales of the Asian markets by 2018
• In FY 2014-2015, Fuji has overseas net sales of USD 2.17 billion and is expecting 27 percent rise to USD 2.81 billion by 2018

ANSWER: Intel

Explanation:
To play a leading role in providing human like sight to 50 billion connected devices projected by 2020, Intel has acquired San Mateo based Movidius.

• With this acquisition, Intel gains low power, high performance System on a Chip platform for acceleration of computer vision applications
• It is working with customers like Google and Lenovo to provide sight to smart devices including AR or VR headsets.
• Their Vision Processing Unit platform for on device vision processing combined with Intel Industry's Intel Real Sense Technology is a winning combination for autonomous machines seen in 3D
• Computer vision enables the machine to visually process and understand surroundings
• Using integration computer vision enables navigation, mapping, collision avoidance, tracking, object recognition inspection analytics and more
• Ability to track, navigate, map and recognise both scenes and objects using Movidius low power and top performance SOCs opens chances in areas where heat, form factors and battery life are the key

ANSWER: Mexico

Explanation:
According to EEPC, apex body of engineering exporters, Mexico has emerged as the top destination for Indian automobile exports.

• It is followed by Nepal and the UK
• India’s auto exports include automobiles, auto components, two and three wheelers and motor vehicles.
• Overall engineering exports for April-July 2016 period slipped by 5.2 percent to USD 20.27 billion from USD 21.52 billion
• Automobile exports have increased by 4 percent
• Of the total automobile exports of USD 2.78 billion between April and July 2016, about USD 501 million was shipped to Mexico. Another 157 million was shipped to Nepal while UK for 130 million

ANSWER: Sunil Godhwani

Explanation:
Religare Enterprises Limited (REL) on 5 September 2016 appointed Sunil Godhwani as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

• He was the MD since 2007 and Chaurman since April 2010
• Godhwani is appointed the Whole Time Director and CEO for the remaining period of his tenure.
• He holds a BS and MS degree from an NYU school and participates in business forums like CCI and FICCI.
• Religare Enterprises Limited is the holding company for India’s leading diversified financial services groups with HQ in New Delhi
• It has 1 million clients in India

ANSWER: Madagascarophis lolo

Explanation:
Scientists have discovered the new Ghost Sake Species of elusive pale grey reptiles at Ankara National Park in Madagascar, Africa.

• Researchers have verified that the Madagascarophis lolo is a new species
• It is part of a common group of snakes called Madagascarophis or cat eyed snake
• These snakes are named for their vertical pupils which are active during the evening or night
• Many of the cat eyed snakes are found in developed areas or degraded forests
• However, researchers found the ghost snake on pale grey limestone rocks
• Ghost snake’s closest relative is Madagascarophis fuchsi, which was discovered at a site about 100 kilometres north of Ankarana years ago.

ANSWER: Bibhuti Lahkar

Explanation:
Indian ecological and conservation activist Bibhuti Lahkar on 4th September 2016 became the first Asian to be awarded the prestigious Heritage Heroes Award by IUCN.

• Lahkar received the award at IUCN World Conservation Congress in Honolulu Hawaii
• Indian ecologist was among 5 conservationists across the globe to be nominated for 2016 heritage heroes award
• This award is aimed at recognising outstanding efforts around the globe in making a difference to the conservation of World heritage sites in challenging situations
• Lahkar did his research on the grasslands of Manas National Park in the context of the species called Pygmy hog
• His research work covered Manas National park and Kaziranga National Park in Assam
• He also conducted the first GIS survey of the Royal Manas National park
• Research findings are a critical component in Manas Tiger Conservation Plan

ANSWER: Lindsay Tuckett

Explanation:
He died at Bloemfontein on September 5, 2016 at the age of 97.

• Cricket South Africa (CSA) has paid rich tribute to Lindsay Tuckett.
• The cricketer represented South Africa in nine Test matches against England between 1947 and 1949.
• He made his debut in the first Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham in 1947, taking 5/68 in the first innings in 37 overs.In his full international career he took 19 wickets, including two five-wicket hauls.
• The right-hander began his first-class career for Orange Free State in the 1934/35 season at the age of just 16.
• The oldest surviving all rounder is now SA’s Johnny Watkins
• Tuckett is best remembered for bowling in the final of the first test at Kingsmead in 1948-1949

ANSWER: Swaziland

Explanation:
President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee extended greetings to the kingdom of Swaziland on the occasion of their independence day on 6th Sept 2016.

• King Mswati III is the current ruler of Swaziland which celebrated its 49th Independence Day in 2016
• Swaziland participated in the IAFS III Summit adding significant momentum to bilateral ties held in Delhi in October 2015
• He also extended greetings to Brazil on the eve of their independence day, held on 7th Sept
• Michel Temer is the current president of this nation
• India and Brazil have strategic partnership and interaction at bilateral and pluri-lateral levels and important global fora
• This includes IBSA, BRICS, BASIC, G-20, G-4 and UN, WTO,WIPO.