Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Jan 3 & 4, 2016

ANSWER: The Indian Econometric Society

Explanation:
Indian Institute of Management-Kozhikode will be hosting the 52nd Annual Conference of TIES or The Indian Econometric Society. This is one of the oldest and largest bodies of professional economists and econometricians with over 2000 members. Prominent speakers include Rana Kapoor, CEO of YEs Bank and Professor Subhash Ray. Professor Pami Dua will preside over the conference.

ANSWER: Natalie Cole

Explanation:
The singer died following congestive heart failure from complication of a kidney transplant at the age of 65. She was daughter of late jazz legend Nat King Cole and carved her own success with hits like This Will Be. She won the Grammy Award for best R&B female performance and also earned Grammy Award for Best New Artist in the 1970s.

ANSWER: A. B. Bardhan

Explanation:
Shri Bardhan was the general secretary of CPI from 1996 to 2012 and The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has condoled the passing away of veteran CPI leader Shri A.B. Bardhan. Vardhan was also part of the freedom movement as a member of the All India Students Federation.

ANSWER: Sanjay Subrahmanyam

Explanation:
Veteran S. Indian classical vocalist Sanjay Subrahmanyam was conferred with the 2015 Sangita Kalanidhi award during the first week of January 2016. He is now the 7th artist to be conferred with this award before attaining 50 years of age.

Veteran South Indian classical vocalists Sanjay Subrahmanyam was on 1 January 2016 conferred with the 2015 Sangita Kalanidhi award. The prestigious award was conferred upon him by mathematician Manjul Bhargava at 89th annual conference of the Madras Music Academy in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

ANSWER: Shifu

Explanation:
Digital payments and commerce company Paytm has acquired Delhi based consumer prediction platform Shifu in a USD 8 million deal. This is expected to enhance consumer experiences on the Paytm platform. Shifu was founded by tech professionals Prashant Singh, Michael Massey and Deepansh Jain in 2012. The 20 member team of this company including its 3 founders will join Paytm.

ANSWER: Habit Commerce

Explanation:
2016 is pegged to be the year of habit commerce with more people getting into the habit of completing online transactions. Habit commerce is driven by multiple use cases, personalised communication, rapidity of payment and easy delivery service. Significant growth in C2C platforms like Alibaba’s Taobao has come prior to Business-2-Consumer platforms in India.

ANSWER: DogSpot.in

Explanation:
Continuing a spate of investments across digital startups, Ratan Tata has placed an undisclosed amount in DogSpot.in. This portal for pet care is backed by Ronnie Screwvala’s Unilazer Ventures and K. Ganesh ( Growth Story) as well as early stage fund India Quotient. The co-founder and CEO of this pet care portal is Rana Atheya. DogSpot.in changed its focus on selling own products from a e-commerce model last year. Pet market in India is expected to explode in the coming months with over 4 million pet dogs and Indian pet care market being pegged at USD 1.22 bullion with annual growth rate exceeding 35%.

ANSWER: Iran

Explanation:
Saudi Arabia announced on 3rd January 2015 that it was severing diplomatic relations with Iran following the execution of a prominent Shia cleric by the former country. Demonstrators stormed and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran in protest over the death of Sheikh al Nimr, a prominent Shia cleric. Mass execution of al-Nimr and 46 others carried out in Saudi Arabia is the largest in decades and has divided West Asia, with protestors from Bahrain to Pakistan protesting the execution.

ANSWER: UK

Explanation:
UK government has banned former PMs from staying for free without paying a fee, at taxpayer’s expense at British embassies and using diplomats for carrying out private commercial work. Foreign Office said the move was aimed to prevent use of government staff and resources in an inappropriate manner.

ANSWER: Myanmar

Explanation:
President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee extended greetings and felicitations to the government and people of Myanmar on the eve of their independence day on January 4th 2016. The current president of this nation is U Thein Sein. Both countries share enduring cultural, religious and linguistic ties.

ANSWER: Mumbai-Ahmedabad

Explanation:
The bullet train corridor has been facilitated through setting up of a separate company on the lines of the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation build to operate the ambitious project of the NDA. Company will bear registered in January and process has been initiated by IRFC. Company will be registered in the name of Indian Railways initially and later made into a JV with contribution of railways likely to be 50% and Maharashtra and Gujarat to have stake of 25% each.

ANSWER: India

Explanation:
India beat defending champions Afghanistan 2-1 in the summit clash of the South Asian Football Federation Cup to life the trophy for the 7th time. India lost to Afghanistan in the 2013 edition in Kathmandu earlier. Victory for the 166th ranked India over the 150th Afghanistan saw India lifting the cup for a record seventh time. With this win, they are likely to make a jump in FIFA rankings.

ANSWER: Melted

Explanation:
Scientists have discovered a new way to develop all solid state lithium batteries which will not explode or burn with ease. Method involves melting solid electrolyte and coating the melted electrolyte around the electrodes. Organic liquid electrolyte used in existing lithium ion batteries can get easily gasified or burned. All solid state lithium batteries are an alternative option which is non-flammable.

ANSWER: Diffraction

Explanation:
A new metamaterial that refracts light in unusual ways can be used for speeding up computers and creating invisibility cloaks. Scientists from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and Russian Academy of Sciences have proposed a 2-d metamaterial comprising silver elements which can be used to develop compact optical devices and create invisibility cloak. This will be a high performance material for light with wavelength from 4 to 500 nanometers. Metamaterial has properties created by artificial periodic structure. Principle of operation of the metasurface is based on the phenomenon of diffraction.

ANSWER: Pull of gravity

Explanation:
To assess if distant stars with planets orbiting them can harbour life, an international team of astronomers have discovered a new method to measure pull of gravity at the surface of distant stars. New method allows scientists to measure surface gravity with accuracy of 4%. Understanding the surface gravity of the star is an important determinant of how much you would weigh on the star. Surface gravity depends on the mass and radius of the star and this technique will also enable astronomers to better gauge the mass and sizes of distant stars. The new technique called autocorrelation function timescale technique or timescale technique uses subtle variations in brightness of distant stars recorded by satellites like Kepler and MOST.

ANSWER: First

Explanation:
This genome sequencing is now being used for answering pivotal questions regarding the origins of the country’s people as well as their culture. Geneticists from Dublin Trinity College and Queen’s University in Belfast sequenced the genome of a woman living 5200 years ago near Belfast and three men from the Bronze age around 4,000 years ago in this region. Evidence within the genomes sequenced provides clues to massive migration.

ANSWER: green PIN

Explanation:
State owned Punjab National Bank has launched numerous digital banking solutions including a green PIN and enhancement of mobile app. PNB has launched mobile apps enabling customers to locate PNB ATM with PNB ATM Assist and the Android app facilities the customer to use GPS. Moreover, customers will be assisted to instantly lodge operational issues and reduce resolution time. Bank has also launched another Android App for basic banking. Green PIN facility was also launched under which customer can get duplicate PIN for debit card through SMS request.

ANSWER: Telangana

Explanation:
For the first time, an Indian state has commenced the recognition of e-Motor insurance policies in partnership with Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India and Insurance Information Bureau of India.The initiative was formally launched b state IT minister KT Rama Rao.Telangana was the first state to recognise electronic motor insurance policies adding to citizen’s convenience and enhancing compliance levels. Quick Response Code will also be issued in digital format.

ANSWER: China

Explanation:
China’s Supreme People’s Court has launched an online service platform for lawyers regarding judicial justice, rule of law and rights of the media. Via this platform, lawyers will be able to file cases, submit material, contact judges or follow cases. Digital recordings of past cases can also be accessed through this online service. Currently, 21,000 law firms and 81,000 lawyers are recorded in the database of the platform.