Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Sept 27, 2015

ANSWER: Radhabinod Koijam

Explanation:
Former Manipur CM Radhabinod Koijam has joined BJP’s Manipur unit along with former Manipur People's Party (MPP) president Okram Joy Singh and former DGP Yumnam Joykumar Singh. Next general assembly in the states are likely to be held in 2017.

ANSWER: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Explanation:
India has formed an ambitious INR 10,000 crore plan for transforming Andaman and Nicobar islands into the first maritime hub of the country. It will create a base for infrastructure including expanded dry dock and ship repair facilities in Port Blair. The plan also includes protection of Jarawa inhabitants while improving the tourism potential for attractions such as mud volcanoes and limestone caves. A 15 year perspective plan developed for shipping and port infrastructure on the islands. Safe berthing and docking capacity facilities will also be improved in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. GoI also sanctioned an INR 50 crore project on the development of a sea route from Port Blair to Baratang, one of the islands and home to the mud volcanoes. 23 sites has been discovered for port development with 7 of these being small facilities. The islands are a chain of 572 of which slightly more than 30 are inhabited. The islands are 0.2% of the land mass of the country and provide for 30% of 200 nautical mile EEZ.

ANSWER: China and the US

Explanation:
Both China and the US have taken swift action to prevent elephants from poaching crisis and placed a near complete ban on ivory imports and exports. China has announced a ban on domestic ivory trade. It is estimated 35,000 elephants are killed every year which equals 1 in every 15 minutes for ivory trade. Steps will be taken by both nations to halt commercial trade of ivory. China is currently the largest market in the world for both legal and illegal ivory. US is one of the world’s top markets for ivory.

ANSWER: 104 million years ago

Explanation:
A giant herbivore dinosaur fossil dating back to more than 100 million years has been found in Australia and is believed to be from the Austrosaurus mckillopi found at Clutha Station in Queensland, Australia. This species was a herbivorous dinosaur that dwelt on land. It grew up 15 m in length with barrel like body and 4 pillar like legs. Bones found are approximately 104 million years old.

ANSWER: 6000 BC

Explanation:
Vedas date back to 6000 BC, 4500 years older than previously thought. Vedic civilisation has proved to be more ancient than even the Indus Valley civilisation. Previously, India and European historians had seen the Vedas as dating back to 1500 BC and the Harappan civilisation as around 2500 to 1800 BC. This made the crux of the theory that Aryans were migrants to India. Present claim is that Vedas pre-date Harappan civilisation making Aryans ancestors of Hindus.

ANSWER: S. K. Sharma

Explanation:
S. K. Sharma was appointed as Chairman of Bhakra Beas Management Board w.e.f 25th September 2015, succeeding A.B. Agrawal, the chairman of a period for 5 years. Sharma is a civil engineering graduate from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. He joined the irrigation and water resources department of Haryana in 1980 as a sub divisional officer. He has monitored several regulation related hydraulic systems, pump housing systems, canal and drainage networks as well as NABARD projects.

ANSWER: Matthias Muller

Explanation:
Matthias Muller was appointed as CEO of VW group succeeding Martin Winterkorn who resigned following the diesel emissions scandal. Muller is presently Chairman of Porsche AG and board member of VW AG. He will continue to head VW till the end of February 2020. Muller commenced his professional career with AUDI AG, a member of the VW Group. He became Head of the Systems Analysis Division in the 1980s at Ingolstadt. He later worked for product management at Audi AG, SEAT and Lamborghini. He moved to Wolfsburg heading product management at VW Group and the brand in 2007. He became General Representative of VW Group after this.

ANSWER: 27th

Explanation:
World Tourism Day is celebrated on 27th September each year. This year, various activities have been organised for World Tourism Day such as free entry for tourists to nearly 200 ticketed monuments and museums across India except Bihar as a part of the World Tourism day’s celebration on Sunday. India tourist hotspots are aiming to attract international tourists. The monuments which will be free for entry include 116 National monuments like Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Qutub Minar, Red Fort, 35 Museum sites under the ASI (like Buddhist sites includes Sanchi and others) along with Museums under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture. Panel Discussion on the theme of “One Billion Tourist One Billion Opportunities”will be held in New Delhi.

ANSWER: INS Trikand

Explanation:
As part of India’s overseas deployment to West Asia, Africa and Europe, INS Trikand entered Toulon on 26th September 2015 for a three day visit. The ship will engage extensively with the French Navy during its stay in the country apart from sports and social engagements. India and French Navies will also jointly perform the maritime exercises called VARUNA which form the basis of maritime engagement between the two nations. India and France established strategic partnership in the year 1998. India and France are also collaborating in the Scorpene submarine programme, under which six submarines are being built in India with French assistance. INS Trikand commanded by Captn. Vinay Kalia is a warship with weapons and sensors capable of detecting air, surface and sub-surface threats.

ANSWER: CSIR CIMAP

Explanation:
DG, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr. Girish Sahni, on the CSIR Foundation Day on 26th September conferred the CSIR Award for S&T Innovations for Rural Development (CAIRD) - 2014 upon CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CSIR-CIMAP), Lucknow for “Enhancing incomes of farm communities through Vetiver based Technological Interventions”. The CAIRD award was constituted in 2006 for honouring science and technology innovations which transform the lives of rural persons. The award carries a cash prize of INR 10 lakh as well as a shield and citation.

ANSWER: 70

Explanation:
Biologists from BNHS have spotted 70 new species of birds in Sultanpur National Park in a study conducted between October 2014 and March 2015. The absolute count method was used for getting an estimate of the avian population of the park. Total number of bird species in the park has risen to 320 from 250 over 4 years. Of 320, 180 were resident species of which 57% were resident, 31% were wintering and 10% were local migratory to the park. 4 vulnerable and 8 non-threatened species have also been discovered at Sultanpur National Park. Vulnerable species include Greater Spotted Eagle, Eastern Imperial Eagle, Indian Spotted Eagle and the Sarus Crane. Close to 20,000 migratory birds along the park in winter form part of its population. 21 fish eating birds have also been found in the park.

ANSWER: 40%

Explanation:
Alpine glaciers have lost 40% of their area over the past 30 years according to a WWF study, Hot Ice report. This is ahead of the UNCCC to be held in Paris in November- December. Report indicates that measures need to be taken to prevent further deterioration of the glaciers. Regarding the Italian Alps, report indicated glaciers currently cover a total area of 368 sq km compared to 609 sq km in 1980s. New Italian Glacier Inventory presented at the 19th Alpine Glaciology meeting in Milan as against 1989 World Glacier Inventory based on data collected during the 80s. Melting process is affecting Arctic, Antarctic and other glaciers across the world such as Alaska, Ural Mountains and the Alps. Global CO2 emissions, a main GHG produces for global warming has risen to 35.3 billion tonnes per year in 2013 from 22.6 billion tonnes in 1990 according to EDGAR/EU Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research. Alpine glaciers are a source for Po, Italy’s longest river.

ANSWER: Shoto

Explanation:
Sachin Dev Duggal, an Indian origin entrepreneur has launched new photo sharing app Shoto which makes curation easy. A trillion pictures were taken on smartphones in 2014. Smartphone users are interested in high quality photos, which this app ensures. Shoto also tells how many photos were taken with friends or family members from times spent together and easily lets users share photos and create private and/or public albums. The app collects metadata from the phone asks users to share photos or not. App is available in Google Play store and App store in 120 countries in multiple languages such as Mandarin, French, Hindi and Spanish. The app company Shoto was formed in 2013 with funding of $1.5 mn from investors like Real Ventures and Kunal Nayyar, the Indian-origin actor of popular TV series "The Big Bang Theory”. This app company is also partnering the UN foundation since June 26, 2015.

ANSWER: Long March 11

Explanation:
China successfully launched a new model of carrier rocket the Long March-11 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in NW Gansu carrying 4 micro satellites into space for testing. The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology along with the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation has developed this solid propellant rocket to be used for the launch of micro satellites. Long March 11 is the 211th launch of the Long March series. The first rocket, Long March 1 was launched in April 1970 when China’s first satellite Dong Fang Hong 1 was placed in orbit. Long March 11 is the eighth launch of China following the sending of Gaofen-8, Gaofen-9 and Yaogan Weixing-27 earth observation satellites into space. Long March 6 recently lofted 20 small satellites on 20th September 2015.

ANSWER: New York

Explanation:
PM Narendra Modi has attended the G-4 summit to be held in NYC on 26th September 2015. G-4 includes Japan, Brazil and Germany apart from India. Summit also focused on UNSC reforms. G-4 leaders have stressed the need for a more representative Security Council to meet the challenges of global conflicts. The leaders paid tribute to the dynamic leadership of the President of the 69th General Assembly and the efforts of the Chair of the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) in moving the IGN process towards text-based negotiations, welcoming the adoption by consensus of the General Assembly Decision 69/560 to use the text presented by the President of the 69th General Assembly in his letter dated 31 July 2015 as the basis for negotiations within the IGN. They also pledged support and cooperation with the President of the 70th General Assembly.

ANSWER: Virbhadra Singh

Explanation:
CBI has raided a serving CM for the first time when HP’s CM Virbhadra Singh was arrested in a disproportionate assets case. In the previous times a CM was arrested, it was only after his resignation (Lalu Prasad Yadav). FIR registered on September 23rd 2015 includes names of the CM and his wife as well as orchard manager and PIC agent. Singh was examined by CBI officials last year in connection with the case in which CBI conducted searches at 13 locations including New Delhi, Shimla and Solan. The probe, initiated in October 2013, found Singh had amassed illegal assets worth Rs 6.03 crore when he was Union steel minister from 2009 to 2012, as also shown in his income tax returns and bank documents. Singh had filed IT returns for assessment years 2009-2010, 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 showing agricultural income of Rs 735,000, Rs 1,500,000 and Rs 2,500,000 respectively. In 2012, in order to explain the unaccounted money, Singh filed revised IT returns for assessment years 2009-10, 2010-2011 and 2011-2012.The agency, in its preliminary enquiry had said that the documents showed revised agricultural income, showing an 18 to 30-fold increase in income in the three years which was Rs 2.21 crore, Rs 2.8 crore and Rs 1.55 crore respectively (total Rs 6.10 crore). Total illegal income was found to be INR 6.03 crores

ANSWER: Both of the above

Explanation:
In a move oriented towards aiding visually challenged and outdoing counterfeit note makers, Braille like markings will be used on INR 100, 500 and 1000 notes. INR 100 notes will comprise 4 parallel angular lines just printed along the border beside the watermark. While INR 500 notes will have 5 lines, INR 1000 notes will bear 6. Intaglio printing will be used enabling users to feel the lines. In this field of printing, security paper is perforated and printing ink is incised onto the paper. Latest security feature is in keeping the notes easy to use for visually challenged persons as promised in 2014 Budget. Additionally, another security feature which will be used is numbering with exploding font or the print size of each number of note’s panel increasing in size from left to right. This feature was introduced in June this year. Apex bank has also increased size of existing identification marks on currency notes by 50% making it easier for visually challenged persons to use the note. Existing currency notes will continue to be used. Banks will recalibrate note sorting and counterfeit detection machines according to the new features. Both INR 500 and 1000 denomination will have bigger circle and diamond respectively.