Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Sep 27, 2017

ANSWER: Karnataka

Explanation:
The Karnataka government launched 'Vision-2025' project aimed at evolving a draft policy for development of the state in next seven years by seeking the opinion of the public.

Under the project, the government would seek public opinion on how they want their dream state to be in the next seven years, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced.

Officials will collect the required information after discussing with public representatives and the general public.

They will then bring out a draft vision policy for the year 2025, portions of which would be incorporated in the manifesto of ruling Congress.

Launching the website 'www.navakarnataka2025.in',CM indicated this vision document will help the state decide the manifesto of their party.

Executive officer of the project, Renuka Chidambaram, and other officials will tour various parts of the southern state for three months starting from next month and speak to the masses and experts to gather public opinion to build a state of their dream.

Karnataka has started mid-day meal programme and free milk distribution programme to counter malnutrition.

Despite a drought situation for six successive years, migration in the drought-prone areas were almost nil because of the measures taken by the government.

Steps have been taken to improve the agriculture sector under the 'Krishi Bhagya' scheme.

Karnataka will face the Assembly elections early next year.

ANSWER: Qalatga Darband

Explanation:
Archaeologists have discovered a city in Iraq, that is thought to have been founded by Alexander the Great, and is 2,000 years old.

Researchers at the British Museum in London used drones to find the remains of Qalatga Darband, a fortified settlement in northern Iraq, that went unrecorded in history.

It is early days, but scientists think it would have been a bustling city on a road from Iraq to Iran.

Statues of Greco - Roman deities and terracotta roof tiles show a strong Greek influence, indicating that its early residents were Alexander’s subjects and those of his successor, researchers said.

ANSWER: Third

Explanation:
India is third in the world in the number of nuclear reactors being installed, at six, while China is leading at 20, the World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2017, released this month, shows.

The number of nuclear reactor units under construction is, however, declining globally for the fourth year in a row, from 68 reactors at the end of 2013 to 53 by mid-2017, the report says.

The latest report further reveals that most nuclear reactor constructions are behind schedule, with delays resulting in increase in project costs and delay in power generation.

There are 37 reactor constructions behind schedule, of which 19 reported further delays over the past year. In India itself, five out of the six reactors under construction are behind schedule.

Eight nuclear power projects have been under construction globally for a decade or more, of which three have been so for over 30 years.

Data gathered by the authors shows that global nuclear power generation increased by 1.4% in 2016 due to a 23% increase in China, though the share of nuclear energy in electricity generation stagnated at 10.5%.

By comparison, globally, wind power output grew by 16% and solar power by 30%. Wind power increased generation by 132 TWh (terawatt hours) or 3.8 times, and solar power by 77 TWh or 2.2 times more than nuclear power’s 35 TWh respectively.

Renewables represented 62% of global power generating capacity additions.

Russia and the U.S. shut down reactors in 2016, while Sweden and South Korea both closed their oldest units in the first half of 2017, the report notes.

The report also documents the financial crisis plaguing the industry. After the discovery of massive losses over its nuclear construction projects, Toshiba filed for bankruptcy of its U.S. subsidiary Westinghouse, the largest nuclear power builder in history.

AREVA has accumulated $12.3 billion in losses over the past six years.

ANSWER: Water Jet Fast Attack Craft

Explanation:
MUMBAI: INS Tarasa, a Water Jet Fast Attack Craft intended for extended coastal and offshore surveillance and patrolling, was commissioned into the Indian Navy here on 26th Sept 2017.

Western Naval Command chief Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, commissioned the vessel.

The vessel, built in Kolkata, is of proven design with good endurance, low draught, high speed and manoeuvrability making her ideal for her primary role of extended coastal and offshore patrolling and surveillance.

Besides, the maiden voyage of the vessel from Kolkata to Mumbai in rough weather bore testimony to her seaworthiness.

It is the fourth and last of the Water Jet FACs built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, Kolkata.

The first two - INS Tarmugli and INS Tihayu - were commissioned in 2016 and are based in Vishakhapatnam, and the third, INS Tillanchang, was commissioned in March this year and is based in Karwar.

These ships are an upgrade of the Car Nicobar Class FACs of the Indian Navy, which were also indigenously designed and built by GRSE, Kolkata.

INS Tarasa: Know More

• INS Tarasa is 50 metres long, powered by three water jets which give it speed of over 35 knots (65 kmph), and is armed with a 30mm main gun and several light, medium and heavy machine guns.
• It is commanded by Lt Commander Praveen Kumar.
• Besides coastal and offshore surveillance, it is described as an ideal platform to render missions like EEZ Patrol, law enforcement, non-military missions like search and rescue, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

ANSWER: Divyang Sarathi

Explanation:
Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment launched the Beta version of ‘Divyang Sarathi’ - The accessible and comprehensive mobile application for easy dissemination of information to ‘Divyangjans’.

This mobile application is bound to empower the ‘Divyangjans’ by providing easier and convenient access of information to them as they can now understand all details pertaining to the schemes, scholarships, statutes, institutional support systems and other relevant and crucial information at the click of a button.

This mobile application aims at providing all relevant information pertaining to the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, including its various acts, rules, regulations and guidelines, schemes, information about the various outreach institutions, employment opportunities, and the disability market in an accessible format.

This application has been developed by the two Assistant Secretaries (Shri Anunaya Jha and Smt. B. Susheela) in the DEPwD.

Divyangjans: Know More

• According to the Census 2011, there are over 2.68 crore ‘Divyangjans’ in India which constitute more than 2.2% of the population.
• The mobile application ‘Divyang Sarathi’ is compliant with the principles of UNCRPD for Universal Access and the provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
• The Act mandates that all information to be made available in an accessible form.
• The application is also an integral part of the ICT component of the Accessible India Campaign launched by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 3rd December, 2015.

Divyang Sarathi: Know More

• The unique features of the mobile application ‘Divyang Sarathi’ are its audio notes (text-to-voice conversion software) embedded in the application which converts the written information into an audio file as well as the adjustable font size which can be altered as per the user’s requirement.
• The mobile application will certainly have a wide outreach as it has been developed bilingually i.e., the information is available in Hindi as well as English.
• The application has been so developed that once downloaded, it can be accessed by any Android smartphone User who may or may not have access to the internet. The mobile app will be available for download on Google Playstore.

ANSWER: Both a and b are the same

Explanation:
Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution today launched the Web Portal of Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA) & “Electronic Negotiable Warehouse Receipt (e-NWR) System” in New Delhi.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion Shri Paswan lauded the initiatives taken by the WDRA in simplifying the Warehouse Registration Rules, digitizing the entire process of registration, monitoring and surveillance as well as creation and management of Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (NWRs) in electronic form through two repositories.

The e-NWRs would have no chances of any tempering, mutilation, fudging, loss or damage and with no possibility of any multiple financing.

Hence, these NWRs will not only facilitate an easy pledge financing by banks and other financial institutions but also smooth trading on various trading centres like commodity exchanges, electronic National Agriculture Markets (e-NAM) and other electronic platforms.

The e-NWRs will save expenditure in logistics as the stocks could be traded through multiple buyers without physical movement and can be even split for partial transfer or withdrawal.

These initiatives would revolutionise the marketing of agricultural commodities and help farmers realize better price for their produce which will be a step towards doubling the farmers’ income by 2022 as well as Digital India mission as envisaged by India's PM.

ANSWER: 5G

Explanation:
India is at the cusp of a next generation of wireless technology 5G. 5G has been conceived as a foundation for expanding the potential of the Networked Society.

A digital transformation brought about through the power of connectivity is taking place in almost every industry.

The landscape is expanding to include massive scale of “smart things” to be interconnected. Therefore, the manner in which future networks will cope with massively varied demands and a business landscape will be significantly different from today.

The economic benefits from the 5G technology are also quite immense.

As per the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) Committee on Digital Economic Policy, it has been stated that 5G technologies rollout will help in,

a. Increasing GDP
b. Creating Employment
c. Digitizing the economy.

For India, 5G provides an opportunity for industry to reach out to global markets, and consumers to gain with the economies of scale.

Worldwide countries have launched similar Forums and thus, India has joined the race in 5G technologies. We are open for collaboration with them.

Government has constituted High Level 5G India 2020 Forum with three Secretaries of key Ministries/Departments Telecom, Meity and DST, and also comprising of renowned experts and Professors from IIT Madras, IIT Mumbai, IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IISc Bengaluru, IT industry and stakeholders from industry associations.

The Term of Reference of the High Level Forum for 5G India 2020 shall be:-

a. Vision Mission and Goals for the 5G India 2020, and
b Evaluate, approve roadmaps & action plans for 5G India 2020.

The primary goals of the forum are to achieve:

• early deployment of 5G in India
• a globally competitive product development and manufacturing ecosystem targeting 50% of India market and 10% of global market over next 5 to 7 years.

The forum will complement the eco-system by focused actions in the following areas:

• Research Ecosystem - for IPR development, standards development and proof of concepts through research projects, PPP projects, testbeds and pilot roll-outs.
• Regulatory Framework - including spectrum assignments and a start-up friendly regulatory environment to enable leap-frog and embracing of innovative technologies.
• Inclusive Business environment - with special focus on investment incentives favourable to start-ups and innovators and enablement of Venture capitalists.

Forum will constitute a number of Steering Committees in different domains.

A vibrant eco-system of research built around 5G that encompasses Industry, Government and Academia will further strengthen the MAKE (& DESIGN) in INDIA initiatives to enable:

• Design and manufacture of 5G technologies, products and solutions in India;
• 5G start-ups that enable this design and manufacturing capabilities;
• Generation of IPR backing the above designs;
• India based companies should have some essential IPR in the 5G standard;
• Manufacture of 5G chipsets, this may require massive investments;
• Appropriate testbeds and technology platforms to enable and help Indian technical ecosystem to have an edge in 5G;
• Accelerated deployment of next generation ubiquitous ultra-high broadband infrastructure with 100% coverage of 10 Gbps across urban India and 1 Gbps across Rural India.

ANSWER: Communications

Explanation:
DoT’s first ever Mobile, Internet and Technology event in India - India Mobile Congress 2017, which is beginning from 27th September till 29th September 2017 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi is a milestone.

Led by Department of Telecom as the nodal ministry, the India Mobile Congress is being organised by Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the industry association of mobile and telecom operators and internet companies will be a congregation to display, discuss, unveil, imbibe, educate and recognise the importance of the global and Indian telecommunications.

It also promotes mobile, internet, connectivity and digital services sector to the world.

The largest and first ever event also has the support of the other ministries like the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Skill Development and Entrepreneurship amongst others and will see participation from senior government representatives from the centres as well as various states.

This is a true example of a public- private collaboration where the government and the industry have put together a world class event in India to further the Prime Minister’s vision of a fully connected and digitally empowered India.

The Ministry has been making concerted efforts to bring affordable and universal access to all of India’s 1.32 Billion population and creating success stories in India for the world to emulate.

This is a true celebration of Digital India.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Like on Earth, Moon and Mars also have volcanic features - such as lava tubes.

Lava tubes are basically lava caves formed in one of two ways: either through the crusting over of lava channels, or more rarely, from pahoehoe flows where the lava is moving under the surface. After the lava leaves, it can leave behind a tunnel.

Sometimes, the lava might re-emerge and might be injected into its old tunnels (due to the low resistance); once there, it expands and leaves behind even larger tunnels, sometimes reaching impressive sizes.

Sometimes, complex tunnel systems are formed, connected to each other and to the surface.

By far the largest known lava tubes in the Solar System are on Venus. However, such tubes have also been discovered on the Moon, and especially on Mars.

Considering the innumerable lava flows and lava channels on the flanks of Olympus Mons, it makes a lot of sense to expect truly gargantuan lava tube systems on the Red Planet.

Scientists now believe that these tunnels can be used to shield future explorers from the massive amounts of radiation they would be exposed to on the surface.

Researchers can detect these tunnels remotely, through gravitational remote sensing. Things stand like this: we talk about the gravitational pull of a celestial body (let’s say, the Earth), but the gravitational field isn’t uniform.

The same goes for the Moon, Mars, and everything else — nothing is really uniform.

By studying localized gravitational anomalies, underground cavities - such as lava tunnels - can be discovered. But researchers are also working on more advanced methods.

A concept for a radar system specifically designed to detect lava tubes on the Moon from orbit was presented.

The idea is to send an electromagnetic pulse towards the planet and then detect a specific signature associated with these tunnels.

Although it’s still early stages, there are promising results which may be used in the near future.

The studies we have developed show that a multi- frequency sounding system is the best option for detecting lava tubes of very different dimensions.

The electromagnetic simulations show that lava tubes have unique electromagnetic signatures, which can be detected from orbit irrespective of their orientation to the radar movement direction.

Therefore, a mission carrying this instrument would enable a crucial step towards finding safe habitats on the Moon for human colonisation.

Geologists have also learned that the distribution of such systems can be generous enough to facilitate the establishment of large stations, or perhaps even entire cities.

On Earth, they can be up to thirty metres across. In the lower gravity environment of Mars, we see evidence for lava tubes that are 250 metres in width.

On the Moon, these tunnels could be a kilometre or more across and many hundreds of kilometres in length,.

Lava tubes are environments shielded from cosmic radiation and protected from micrometeorites flux, potentially providing safe habitats for future human missions.

They are also, potentially, large enough for quite significant human settlements - you could fit most of the historic city centre of Riga into a lunar lava tube, for example

ANSWER: Only a and d

Explanation:
According to reports, scientists have discovered sizeable chunks of plastic near the North Pole, raising fears that melting ice will allow more of the material to be released into the Arctic Ocean - with detrimental effects on wildlife.

A team of scientists found polystyrene chunks 1,609 kilometres from the North Pole in the area that was previously inaccessible because of sea ice.

They found two large pieces on the edge of ice flows between 77 degree and 80 degree north, in the middle of the international waters of the central Arctic Ocean.

It is one of the most northerly sightings of such debris in the world's oceans, which are increasingly polluted by plastics and confirm just how far plastic pollution has spread.

This comes at a time when climate change-induced melting of Arctic ice has been a pressing matter for scientists across the world.

The finding has prompted fears that as the ice melts, because of climate change, plastic that has long been trapped in it is flowing into the Arctic.

Finding pieces of rubbish like this is a worrying sign that melting ice may be allowing high levels of pollution to drift into these area.

This is potentially very dangerous for the Arctic's wildlife.

More than five trillion pieces of plastic are estimated floating on the surface of the world's oceans.

It has been claimed that there is now enough plastic to form a permanent layer in the fossil record.

A significant concern is that large plastic pieces can break down into “micro plastics” that are tiny particles that are accidentally consumed by filter-feeding animals.

The particles remain in animals' bodies and are passed up the food chain, threatening wildlife at all levels from zooplankton to apex predators such as polar bears.

Many rivers that are often a source of plastic pollution lead into the Arctic Ocean, but plastic pollution has been literally trapped into the ice.

Now the ice is melting scientists believe micro plastics are being released into the Arctic.

Some projections indicate that the entire Arctic Ocean will be ice-free in summer by 2050, allowing human exploitation such as commercial fishing, shipping and industry of the newly opened waters.

Plastic Waste: Know More

• Plastic waste is a menace that is the result of industrialization and to an extent, human activities, without realizing that it ends up affecting our health as well.
• Plastic is considered inexpensive and durable, which is why it is most commonly used for packaging.
• However, due to its slow degradation process, plastics can severely affect living organisms, especially marine life, through entanglement, direct ingestion of plastic waste, or through exposure to chemicals within plastics that cause interruptions in biological functions

ANSWER: SpaceShipOne

Explanation:
The dream of building world's largest aircraft is a step closer to reality with the private spaceflight company Stratolaunch, which is spearheading the project, having successfully hit a milestone last week by completing the first phase of engine testing.

Stratolaunch was founded by Paul G. Allen, the man who funded first private spacecraft SpaceShipOne to carry a civilian into suborbital space and safely home again.

It aims at providing convenient, reliable, and routine access to low Earth orbit (LEO) that will help researchers collect data in science, research, and technology from space.

The team has completed fuel testing that includes testing all six fuel tanks to ensure proper operations and each of the six fuel tanks were filled independently to ensure proper operations of fuel mechanisms and to validate the tanks were properly sealed.

The company said that they have also begun testing the flight control system and have so far exercised the full limits of motion and rate of deflection of control surfaces on the wing and stabilisers.

The engine testing was conducted with a build-up approach consisting of three phases - dry motor, wet motor and then each engine was started one at a time and allowed to idle.

Each of the engines operated as expected.

The company would “continue to test the aircraft's engines at higher power levels and varying configurations, culminating to the start of taxi tests.”

Stratolaunch: World's Largest Aircraft

• It is the world's largest aircraft by wingspan and is the largest all-composite plane ever built, according to Stratolaunch website.
• It uses "Boeing 747 engines for a payload capacity of over 500,000 lbs
• It has an operational range of approximately 2,000 nautical miles.
• Wing span: 385 feet
• Length: 238 feet
• Tail height: 50 feet
• Propulsion: 6X Pratt & Whitney PW4056 Engines
• Max takeoff weight: 1,3000,000 LBS
• Stratolaunch is expected to be fully operational by the end of this decade.
• It is currently under construction at the Mojave Air & Space Port in Mojave, California.