Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Mar 06 & 07, 2016

ANSWER: IEA

Explanation:
India and International Energy Agency based in Paris, France have signed an agreement to increase cooperation in the field of energy forecasting and data. Statement of Intent for stepping up cooperation in energy forecasting and data was signed by NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya and IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. IEA-India agreement will push forward work for the energy system of India including work for the Agency's flagship publication, World Energy Outlook (WEO), as well as modelling, forecasting and identification of data needs.

ANSWER: Nancy Reagan

Explanation:
Former actress and First Lady of the US, Ms. Nancy Reagan has died at the age of 94. She was one of the most well known and influential first ladies during her husband’s tenure as president during the 7 years from 1981 to 1989. Reagan was affectionally called Mommie by Ronald Reagan who died in 2004 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s.

ANSWER: Raymond Tomlinson

Explanation:
Raymond Tomlinson, inventor of modern email and technological leader passed away at the age of 74. Email existed in limited form before Tomlinson discovered the multiple electronic messaging system in 1971 comprising a network of person to person email for the first time. Tomlinson sent the first email on the ARPANET system. He also chose the @ symbol to connect user name with destination address and is now used in modern parlance widely. The symbol has become so vital in modern culture that MoMA's Department of Architecture and Design added the symbol into its collection in 2010, with credits to Tomlinson.

ANSWER: Kalabhavan Mani

Explanation:
Born near Thrissur, Mani began his career as a mimicry artist before leaping into the film industry and Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu films. He was a popular singer of folk songs and won the special jury award for his performance in the Malayalam movie Vasanthiyum Lekshmiyum Pinne Njanum at the 47th National Film awards in 2000.

ANSWER: Both a and b are same

Explanation:
The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the first Conference of Women Legislators on the theme ‘The Role of Women Legislators in Nation Building (Mahila Janpratinidhi – Sashakt Bharat Ki Nirmata) at New Delhi on March 5, 2016. With the implementation of affirmative action through the reservation of 33% of the Panchayati Raj Institutions seats for women, there is a sharp rise in women's representation. In fact, today women constitute more than 40% of the elected representatives in Panchayats. In some States, the representation of women in Panchayats is more than 50%.

ANSWER: Ghana

Explanation:
President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has extended greetings and felicitations to Republic of Ghana citizens on their national day i.e 6th March 2016.His Excellency Mr. John Dramani Mahama, is the President of the Republic of Ghana. India Africa Summit has been held for the fifth time this year which was attended by Ghana.

ANSWER: Grow in India

Explanation:
Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari has mentioned the need for Grow in India at the keynote address at the National Seminar on ‘Public Investment and Subsidies on Agricultural Inputs and the Upliftment of Agrarian Economy’, organised by the All India Kisan Sabha which was attended by farmers from all over the country.Good intentions must be translated into action and enhanced public expenditure in agriculture is one way to accomplish this.

ANSWER: Both of the above

Explanation:
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar, said, “The new category of White industries which is practically non-polluting will not require Environmental Clearance (EC) and Consent and will help in getting finance from lending institutions. The exercise of Re-categorization was being carried out for last one year.”

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has developed the criteria of categorization of industrial sectors based on the Pollution Index which is a function of the emissions (air pollutants), effluents (water pollutants), hazardous wastes generated and consumption of resources.
The following categories of industries have been identified :

• Pollution Index score of 60 and above - Red category
• Pollution Index score of 41 to 59 – Orange category
• Pollution Index score of 21 to 40 – Green category
• Pollution Index score incl.&upto 20 - White category

ANSWER: Professor Vishweshwara

Explanation:
77-year-old Bangaluru-based Professor Vishweshwara who is not only among the first in India to study black holes, but who has also made a very important calculation that was used in this discovery of gravity waves using the advanced LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory) detectors. Through the initial signal, the “chirp”, the steadily increasing frequency and amplitude of the gravitational waves indicates the inspiralling of two black holes and the ring down ( or the quasi-normal mode, QNM) indicates the newly created black hole after the merger. He is credited as the Black Hole Man of India.

ANSWER: Both a and b

Explanation:
American novelist Pat Conroy who penned the Oscar nominated Prince of Tides and The Great Santini has passed away due to pancreatic cancer at the age of 70. He was also known for many other interesting books like The Boo and Beach Music.

ANSWER: Okeanos Explorer

Explanation:
This octopus was found by NOAA’s Okeanos Explorer. This light coloured small octopus was found at the depth of 2.5 miles in the ocean close to Necker Island and it lacked fins and muscles. The octopus which has been likened by scientists to Casper, the Friendly Ghost also has all of its suckers on one row on each arm.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Team has found evidence of curium in an unusual ceramic inclusion referred to as Curious Marie taken from carbonaceous meteorite. Researchers from the University of Chicago found that a rare element named curium was found be be present when the solar system was formed. Curium was found on the ceramic inclusion called Curious Marie taken from the meteorite. Both curium and the phenomenon Curious Marie have been named after Marie Curie, a pioneer in the field of radioactivity theory. Curium is one of the heaviest known elements to man.

ANSWER: Khaire’s Black Shiedtail

Explanation:
Team of researchers from UK and India have discovered a new species of snakes named after N. Khaire as Khaire’s Black Shieldtail. Khaire is the founder of Pune’s Katraj Snake Park and Indian Herpetological Society. Researchers from Natural History Museum (NHM), London, UK; National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore, India, the Indian Herpetological Society (IHS), Pune, India and the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) took part in the study and this marks the first discovery since 144 years. Snake belongs to family of Uropeltldae and is burrower that lives underground.

ANSWER: Both of the above pairs

Explanation:
4 species of Impatiens called Kasi Thumba believed to have gone extinct were rediscovered from the Western Ghats by researchers led by K.M. Prabhukumar and Indira Balachandran, taxonomist and director respectively of the Centre for Medicinal Plants Research, Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala, who made the rediscovery during explorations at Dhoni Hills of Palakkad and Nelliampathy. The 4 plants- Impatiens concinna, Impatiens sasidharanii, Impatiens neo-modesta , and Impatiens sasidharanii var hirsuta , were found to have great medicinal values.Impatiens concinna , found 6,000 ft above sea level, was discovered for the first time in Kerala. Two other Impatiens species found from Nelliampathy forests have been named after N. Sasidharan, former scientist of the Kerala Forest Research Institute.

ANSWER: gujaratensis

Explanation:
In what is one of the rarest moments in the reptilian history of the nation, a new snake species has been discovered by Mumbaikar researchers Zeeshan A. Mirza and Rajesh Sanap, along with three wildlife enthusiasts from Gujarat; Raju Vyas; Harshil Patel and Jaydeep Maheta.New snake genus, Wallaceophis is named after Alfred Russel Wallace for his pioneering work on biogeography, and for also founding the theory of natural selection. The species has been named gujaratensis.
Based on scalation, tooth number, bone morphology and DNA, the snake was identified as belonging to a group of colubrid snakes that include racers, royal snakes and whip snakes, which are present in the form of 1800 species and the number will most likely rise. Wallaceophis gujaratensis has been found in 7 locations in Gujarat.