Current Affairs Questions and Answers - September 3, 2015

ANSWER: A. Allahabad High Court

On 2nd Sep’15 a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Yashwant Verma passed the order on a PIL.

ANSWER: B. Marginal Field Policy

Under new Policy 69 unexploited oil fields held by ONGC and Oil India for many years, will be opened for competitive bidding. The license granted would cover all hydrocarbons found in the field instead of being restricted to one item. Revenue sharing model is being introduced for the first time in oil sector and Government will receive a share of gross revenue instead of profit- sharing in earlier formula.

ANSWER: C. 15th Sep’15

For loan farmers the extension period will be upto end of this month. The decision will benefit farmers where delayed and deficient rainfall has been reported. Bihar, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha and Gujarat had requested the Centre to extend the period of crop insurance.

ANSWER: D. New Delhi – Palwal

Now the passengers can buy unreserved tickets through their smart phones and need not visit Stations to purchase tickets. Besides, the Railways has also installed a Cash or Smart Card ticket vending machine at New Delhi Railway Station to provide unreserved tickets with a view to cater to passenger rush. Now the passengers will have to download the unreserved ticketing mobile application from Google play or Window store to use the facility.

ANSWER: C. Canada

On 2nd Sep’15 Canada's national statistical agency, Statistics Canada reported that the Canadian economy retreated at an annual pace of 0.5 per cent from April through June after sliding 0.8 percent the first three months of the year. Two consecutive negative quarters are the technical definition of a recession. Canada is the world's 11th-biggest economy and the United States' biggest trading partner.

ANSWER: B. Forward Markets Commission

An official press release said, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in his Budget speech, had announced the merger of FMC with the capital market regulator SEBI to strengthen the regulation of commodity futures market. A unified regulator for commodities and capital markets will help streamline monitoring of commodity futures trading and curb wild speculations.

ANSWER: C. 2020

A Belgian artist had complained that his design was stolen. Logo designer Kenjiro Sano had admitted copying online material for a previous project. The logo was unveiled only last month, based around the letter T and a red circle representing a beating heart - which critics said resembled the Japanese flag.

ANSWER: D. Durban

The Commonwealth Games are held every four years and feature athletes from over 50 member countries. First held in 1930, 2022 will mark the first time the Games will be held in Africa, a move that could pave the way for South Africa to make another attempt for the Olympics after Cape Town finished third in bidding for the 2004 summer Games. The coastal city was the only bidder for the multi-sports event after the Canadian city of Edmonton withdrew from contention in February, citing falling oil prices. Organisers said the Games would be held from 18 to 30 July, opening on the birth date of the late South African President and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela.

ANSWER: B. Bangladesh

Organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the T-20 event has five nations including India, England, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh participating. Bangladesh takes on England in the opening match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. The other matches will be held in the Cricket stadium in Savar.

ANSWER: D. All of the above

The 12-point charter of demands of the trade unions was to seek withdrawal of labour law amendments and the land acquisition amendments ordinance. They also demanded the government to stop privatisation and foreign investment in railways, insurance and defence, banning speculative trade in commodities, Universalization of Public Distribution System as well as policies to address price hike and improve employment opportunities. It also suggested an increase in the bonus ceiling as well as widening the coverage of provident fund and health insurance to include construction as well as workers in schemes such as Aanganwadis.

ANSWER: B. Manipur

The violence has been triggered by passage of three bills - Protection of Manipur People Bill, 2015, Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms (Seventh amendment) Bill, 2015 and Manipur Shops and Establishments (Second Amendment) Bill, 2015. Tribals fear that these legislations would allow "outsiders" to have rights over tribal land and not protect the indigenous people.

ANSWER: A. Dr. Mool Chand Sharma

He is the Professor of Law at Delhi University and the Member of Law Commission of India.

ANSWER: A. Marginal cost of funds Methodology

The new methodology is aimed at bringing uniformity among Base Rate of banks so that they will be more sensitive to any changes in policy rates of the RBI like Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR), etc. At present, banks are following different methodologies in computing their Base Rate like on the basis of average cost of funds, marginal cost of funds or blended cost of funds (liabilities).