October 11, 2017 - Current Affairs Quiz - Current Affairs MCQ

Answer 1. 8
Explanation The National Mission for Clean Ganga(NMCG) has sanctioned Rs.700 crore for eight projects in the Namami Gange programme. Four projects related to sewage management in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.Three are related to treatment of drains through bio-remediation.

Answer 2. Samsung
Explanation Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) – Kharagpur has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Samsung India for the setting up of a digital academy in its campus. The Digital Academy will be hosted by IIT-Kharagpur’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering. At the academy, students will be provided training on the Internet of Things (IoT) through Tizen-based operating systems which is used by Samsung for its mobile phones and home appliances.

Answer 5. Dr.Bibey Debroy
Explanation The EAC-PM is chaired by Dr.Bibey Debroy. Principal Adviser of NITI Aayog Ratan P.Watal is the council’s member secretary and Dr.Surjit Bhalla, Dr.Rathin Roy and Dr.Ashima Goyal are its part-time members. Main issues discussed were, ways to boost consumer demand, attract private investments and measures to improve job creation in India.

Answer 2. Navi Mumbai
Explanation The Innovation Centre of SBI would be built at its Global IT Centre in Belapur, Navi Mumbai. It will be the largest Innovation Centre by any financial services company in India. SBI is investing Rs.100 crore on this Innovation Centre.It has decided to allocate 5 % of its IT budget for innovation regularly. This Innovation Centre will have 40 dedicated zones for each technology like blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning etc.

Answer 2. 7
Explanation World Bank said that, growth is expected to slow down from 8.6% in 2015 to 7.0% in 2017. Good policies balancing public spending with private investment might increase growth to 7.3% by 2018. It said that, India’s economic growth has been affected because of demonetisation and GST (Goods & Services Tax).

Answer 3. Natural gas
Explanation The government announced that, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council has revised rates for transportation of natural gas through pipeline, offshore works contracts etc.
The transportation of natural gas through pipeline will attract 5% GST without input tax credit, and 12% with input tax credit. The offshore works contract services and associated services relating to oil and gas exploration and production in the offshore areas beyond 12 nautical miles will attract 12% GST.

Answer 1. Second
Explanation The report by professional networking firm LinkedIn, has stated that India contributes 13.7 % to the global pharmaceuticals and biotechnology workforce. India has become the second largest market for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. The report was published in the newly released e-book “The Indian Pharma and Biotech Industry”. It showed that New Delhi, Kolkata and Chandigarh are top markets for talent in this sector, in India.

Answer 3. 16
Explanation Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani announced the setting up of 16 new Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) townships, in Gujarat. He said that, the new Garment and Apparel Policy in Gujarat will create job opportunities for 1 lakh people. He also said that, about Rs.20,000 crore investments is likely to come up in Gujarat following this policy.

Answer 3. Richard H. Thaler
Explanation Richard H. Thaler won the 2017 Nobel Prize for Economics for his work on behavioural economics. He plans to spend the prize money “irrationally”. Thaler, 72 and a professor at the University of Chicago, is one of the founders of behavioral economics and finance.

Answer 2. California, USA
Explanation Headquarters–Menlo Park, California, U.S.
Chairman & CEO – Mark Zuckerberg

Answer 2. Japan
Explanation Japan launched Michibiki satellite, the fourth satellite for a new high-precision global positioning system (GPS). Michibiki satellite was launched by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency aboard H-2A rocket from Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture.

Answer 5. Gurusaidutt
Explanation Commonwealth Games bronze medallist RMV Gurusaidutt won the men’s singles title at the Bulgarian International Future Series Badminton tournament. In the final match, Gurusaidutt defeated Muhammed Ali Kurt of Turkey. The match lasted for 35 minutes at the end of which Gurusaidutt earned the victory by 21-17, 21-16.

Answer 2. Maharashtra
Explanation Maharashtra State Government will set up a special cell under the state Environment department for the effective implementation of this policy of developing environment-friendly villages and cities. Besides, Maharashtra cabinet has approved financial allocation for special scheme for pending agricultural pumps in Vidarbha and Marathwada region.

Answer 4. Germany
Explanation A Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI) was signed in New Delhi between Union Ministry of Railways and Germany for carrying out feasibility study on existing Chennai-Kazipet corridor of Indian Railways by German Railways for increasing the speed of passenger trains to 200 kmph.

Answer 1. PV Reddi committee
Explanation Union Law Ministry has finalised the appointment of a panel (Second National Judicial Pay Commission) to recommend new salary structure for judges of lower courts in India. In coming days, Union Cabinet will take up Law Ministry’s proposal to appoint the Second National Judicial Pay Commission to recommend salary hikes for the 21,000 lower court judges. Former Supreme Court judge PV Reddi will be the head of this proposed commission which will submit its recommendations in early 2019.

Answer 4. 6.7 %
Explanation International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered India’s growth forecast for 2017 to 6.7% from its earlier estimate of 7.2%.
In the latest edition of World Economic Outlook report, IMF has cited lingering impact of demonetisation and teething problems related to implementation of Goods & Services Tax (GST) as main reasons for the downward revision of Indian economy’s growth forecast.

Answer 1. Act of Parliament
Explanation NHAI is a Government body established through an Act of Parliament.
Moody’s Baa3 rating of NHAI is based on ensured availability of funding from Indian Government which in itself is a stable funding source.
Cess on the sale of diesel and petrol for the Central Road Fund, revenues from operating roads, toll revenues and revenue share for Public Private Partnerships (PPP) projects comprise other avenues of funding for NHAI.

Answer 5. HSBCnet Trade Transaction Tracker
Explanation HSBC launched the mobile app, ‘HSBCnet Trade Transaction Tracker’, to help customers track the status of their trade transactions on a real-time basis. The Trade Transaction Tracker feature has been built into the existing HSBCnet mobile application and has been launched in select countries in which HSBC operates, including India. It will provide a global view of import and export documentary credit and collections transactions, across markets in one single app.

Answer 4. China
Explanation Indian Government imposed anti-dumping duty on imports of certain steel wire rods from China to safeguard the interest of domestic industry. The anti-dumping duty has been imposed for a period of five years.
It was imposed on recommendation of Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), under Union Commerce Ministry.

Answer 2. European Securities & Markets Authority (ESMA)
Explanation European Securities & Markets Authority (ESMA) has certified Metropolitan Clearing Corporation of India Ltd. (MCCIL), the clearing arm of Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India (MSE) as qualified central counterparty (CCP).
A central counterparty (CCP) is a corporate entity which guarantees the terms of a trade even if a buyer or seller defaults on the agreement.

Answer 4. Sulabh Shauchalaya system
Explanation Dr.Bindeshwar Pathak is the founder of Sulabh International. He has developed and implemented, all over India, a low cost and appropriate toilet technology popularly known as the Sulabh Shauchalaya system. President Ram Nath Kovind honoured Dr.Bindeshwar Pathak with Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration, Academics and Management for 2017.

Answer 1. Actor Anupam Kher
Explanation the government appointed Actor Anupam Kher as the Chairman of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. Anupam Kher will replace Gajendra Chauhan as Chairman of FTII. He is 62 years old. He has worked in more than 500 films and over 100 plays in the last 30 years. He was awarded the Padma Shri award in 2004 and the Padma Bhushan award in 2016.

Answer 5. Nisha Desai Biswal
Explanation Nisha Desai Biswal, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, was appointed as President of the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC). USIBC is a forum of U.S. businesses under the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Answer 2. New system developed to drive robotaxis
Explanation The new system developed to drive robotaxis is codenamed Pegasus. Pegasus will be available to NVIDIA automotive partners in the second half of 2018. It extends the NVIDIA Drive PX AI computing platform to handle Level 5 driverless vehicles. NVIDIA Drive PX Pegasus delivers over 320 trillion operations per second, which is more than 10 times the performance of its predecessor, NVIDIA Drive PX 2.

Answer 1. Oct 11
Explanation ‘International Day of the Girl Child’ is observed across the world on October 11 every year. This day is observed to raise awareness about several issues faced by girl child pertaining to education, nutrition, child marriage, legal and medical rights. Theme of International Day of the Girl Child’ 2017 is “EmPOWER Girls: Before, during and after crises”.