Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Jan 1, 2016

ANSWER: Knighthood

Explanation:
Indian origin cancer research expert Harpal Singh Kumar on 31st December 2015 was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his work on the prevention and treatment of cancer. Samir Desai, founder of funding circle received a CBE as did Chairman of Sun Mark Ltd. Raminder Singh Ranger. OBE was awarded to Kala Patel and Daljit Lally. MD of Hotel Maiyanho in Leicester, Aatin Ashok Anadkat was awarded a British empire medal. MBE was awarded to Rekha Mehr and Ayesha Hazarika.

ANSWER: Long Range Surface to Air Missile

Explanation:
Long Range Surface to Air Missile, a missile co-developed by India and Israel was successfully test fired on December 30, 2015 and the missile was fired from INS Kolkata. It was successfully intercepted as an aerial target at extended ranges and was test fired by DRO and Israel Aerospace Industries. LRSAM is called BARAK 8 missile in Israel. The length of this missile is 4.5 m, diameter is 0.54 m and wingspan of 0.94 m. Weight is around 275 kg including a 60 kg warhead and maximum speed is Mach 2.

ANSWER: Both of the above

Explanation:
Iam Murdock known for founding one of the most well known Linux distributions passed away on 28th December 2015 at the age of 42. He was an American software engineer who founded the Debian Project and Progeny Linux systems, a commercial Linux firm. The Debian Manifesto was written when he was still a student at Purdue University and he was appointed CTO of Free Standards Group. He joined Sun Microsystems in 2007. Till his death, he worked for Docker, Inc.

ANSWER: Vijay Hazare Trophy

Explanation:
Ex Indian cricketer and Bengal all-rounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla on 30th December 2015 announced retirement from all forms of cricket, 2 days after he was named in the Bengal squad for the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy commencing 2nd January 2016. He was born on May 6th, 1981 and made his first class debut in the Under-19 World Cup. He was captain of Bengal in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2013 and also played for several IPL franchises.

ANSWER: Real Estate Investment Trust

Explanation:
For providing new avenues for raising funds, capital market regulatory body SEBI on 31st December 2015 proposed fresh norms for public issue of Real Estate Investment Trusts. This includes a cap of 75% allocation to institutional buyers. Proposed norms for the public issuance of REITs pertain to appointment of merchant bankers, disclosures within the offer documents and filing of draft papers, keeping them in public domain for a minimum of 21 days. For issue made via book building process or otherwise, allocation in public issue should equal maximum 75% to Qualified Institutional Buyers and 25% to other investors, according to SEBI. Investment managers can allocate close to 60% of the portion available for allocation for QIBs to anchor investors subject to specific conditions. Anchor investors need to create applications for INR 10 crore minimum in public issue and allocation to investors should be on discretionary basis subject to minimum of two investors for maximum allocation up to INR 250 crore and 5 other such investors for over INR 250 crore.

ANSWER: India

Explanation:
Featured as a bright spot in a gloomy global economy, India has outpaced China as the fastest growing economy in the world in 2015. It is expected to clock 7 to 7.5 percent growth in 2016 provided reform momentum persists and the business environment betters. FM Arun Jaitley has said subdued global economy and moderate private sector investment will posit challenge and top priorities of the New Year include rolling out delayed GST and ensuring further ease of doing business. India will remain off the targeted growth rate of 8 to 10 percent in the coming future until reforms momentum catches pace. India’s economic growth accelerated to 7.4% in July-September quarter overtaking China as the fastest growing economy in the world picking up on manufacturing, services sector and mining.

ANSWER: 1.3

Explanation:
Growth in 8 sectors of the economy fell 1.3 percent in November, as against 3.2 percent growth in October. This showcases the uneven nature of economic recovery. While cement, crude oil, steel and natural gas production declined M-O-M, electricity production was unchanged. Pace of growth was slower as carrying refined products, fertilizer, refined petrol products and coal output rose. Fiscal deficit for April to November rose to INR 4.83 lakh crore and is currently pegged at 87% of the FY16 Budget estimate.

ANSWER: Drug Authentication and Verification Application

Explanation:
Department of Commerce’s Drug Authentication and Verification Application has won the 2015 eAsia award under trade facilitation category as announced by Asia Pacific Council for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business/AFACT in Tehran. DAVA was launched in June 2015.

ANSWER: Gyanendra Bandgaiyan

Explanation:
Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on 30th December 2015 approved the appointment of Dr. G. D. Badgaiyan as DG of the National Centre for Good Governance. He will be appointed for three years and is extendable for another 2 years. Hailing from MP, he is former IAS officer of UT cadre. He is the Ex-Chief Economist of UNDP.

ANSWER: D. K. Hota

Explanation:
PSEB has recommended D. K. Hota to be the new CMD of defence PSU BEML when the post falls vacant on July 1, 2016. He is currently the director HR of this PSU and has been on deputation to BEML from HPCL. He will succeed P. Dwarkanath who is scheduled to superannuate.

ANSWER: Augere

Explanation:
On December 29, 2015, Bharti Airtel has informed the BSE that it has acquired remaining balance paid up share capital of 26% of Augere. With this said acquisition, Augere will become a wholly owned subsidiary of the company. Earlier, Airtel had acquired 74% stake in this wireless company. Augere holds 20 Mhz of spectrum in 2300 Mhz band in Madhya Pradesh service area for 4G services.

ANSWER: National Biotechnology Development Strategy

Explanation:
Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Dr Harsha Vardhan on 30th December 2015 launched the National Biotechnology Development Strategy 2015-2020 which aims to establish India as a world class bio-manufacturing hub. Benefits of the mission include impetus to knowledge and tools for advancing the cause of humanity and creating strong infrastructure for research and development as well as commercialisation.

ANSWER: Coal India Hockey Indian League

Explanation:
Sweden’s Bjorn Isberg was on 30th December appointed as Coal India’s HIL tournament director. The role of assistant tournament director was given to Muthukumar Balakrishnan from Malaysia. Umpire’s manager for the league was Andy Mair from Scotland.

ANSWER: Medium Term Debt Management Strategy

Explanation:
To better managing public borrowing, government has taken the decision to switch to INR 50,000 crore high cost debt in 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 into fresh instruments of longer term maturity. In terms of releasing Medium Term Debt Management Strategy, Finance Ministry has announced the objective of debt management strategy is obtaining government funding at all times at a cost which is low in the medium/long term. MTDS is put together for the period 2015-2016 to 2017-2018 associated with outstanding government market borrowing as noted on March end 2015. Switches of INR 30,000 crore are conducted in 2015-2016 and INR 50,000 crore in 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 as part of the scenario analysis of the MTDS. Reversal in the interest rate cycle is set to lower borrowing cost in the domestic market in 2015-2016. MTDS is in accordance with the Medium Term Fiscal Policy Statement.