Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Nov 26, 2015

ANSWER: ModPOS

Explanation:
The most sophisticated point of sale malware to date, ModPOS has been detected by iSight Partners that has released a technical report about this. Some of the biggest breaches to data in the past years have been the attack on Target Corp and Home Depot Inc.

ANSWER: STEPPP

Explanation:
Government has provided clearance for skilling 5 million Indians with financial assistance of USD 1 billion to provide skill training called STEPPP or Skill Training for Employability Leveraging Public Private Partnership. The project was cleared by the Department of Economic Affairs, MSDE. It will provide skill training and also strengthen skill training infrastructure.

ANSWER: Mahip Singh

Explanation:
Well known Hindi writer, journalist and columnist Mahip Singh passed away on 24th November 2015 at the age of 85. He is survived by his wife, two sons and one daughter. He was known for his collection of short stories. The first collection, Subah Ke Phool was published in the late 1950s. Born in 1930 in Unnao, UP, she was editor of literary magazine Sanchetna and established the Bharatiya Lekhak Sangathan.

ANSWER: Suriname

Explanation:
Suriname celebrated its Independence day on 25th November 2015. President Pranab Mukherjee extended greetings to His Excellency, Mr. D. D. Bouterse, the president of Suriname. India and Suriname have strong bilateral cooperation in numerous fields through CARICOM and CELAC.

ANSWER: Bharat Ko Janiye

Explanation:
MoIA and MEA Union Minister S. Swaraj has launched an online quiz program for the Indian Diaspora entitled Bharat Ko Janiye. This quiz seeks to educate them regarding India’s progress in numerous fields such as manufacturing, IT, science and technology. Quiz is open for PIOs and NRIs between 18 to 35 years of age.

ANSWER: Hypoiodous acid

Explanation:
As per researchers, chlorine or chloramines in tap water can react with the iodised table salt added to food, creating a kind of acid called hypoiodous acid. The acid reacts with food and other organic material to lead to the generation of cooking iodinated disinfection byproducts (I-DBPs) - molecules that are almost completely new to researchers and now found to be toxic.

ANSWER: Anju Bobby George

Explanation:
Anju Bobby George, a former long jump world champion has been appointed as the TOPS/Target Olympic Podium Scheme chairperson on 24th November 2015. She will assume charge w.e.f December 2015. Her appointment was given approval by Union Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs following the resignation of BJP parliament member and BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur. She is also a member of the TOPS identification committee along with Pullela Gopichand and Rahul Dravid. She is the first Indian sportswoman to win a bronze medal at the World Athletics Championships in Paris, 2003. She is also a winner of several honours including Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Arjuna Award and Padma Shri.

ANSWER: Crayon Data

Explanation:
TATA Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata has invested an amount which has not been specified in Singapore based start up Crayon Data. Crayon was founded by Srikant Sastri, an IIML alumnus along with Suresh Shankat in the year 2012. It has raised substantial funds from Jungle Ventures and Spring Seeds. Tata recently joined Jungle series as a special advisor. Crayon’s flagship product Maya empowers enterprises to deliver customised choices to consumers.

ANSWER: Portugal

Explanation:
Antonio Costa, whose paternal roots can be traced to Goa and heads the Portugal Socialist Party was named PM and tasked with forming the government on 25th November 2015. Son of accomplished poet and writer Orlando Costa, Antonio has taken charge following weeks of political instability precipitated by inconclusive elections in the previous month. Costa’s anti austerity alliance with Communist and Left Bloc toppled the 11 day commiserative minority government in a massive parliamentary vote earlier in November.

ANSWER: TN

Explanation:
TN football administrator TR Govindrajan passed away on November 24, 2015 following a brief illness at the age of 90. He has been the secretary of the Tamil Nadu Football Association for more than two decades and also occupied the post of Assistant Secretary, Treasurer and Vice President. He was also the first secretary of the Madras Football Association when it was set up in the late 1970s.

ANSWER: Japan

Explanation:
The launch was conducted on 23rd November 2015. Japan launched Canadian communications spacecraft Telstar 12v into orbit abroad the H-IIA rocket that blasted off from Pad 1 of the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at Japan’s Tanegashima Space Centre. The launch was jointly organised by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. This is Japan’s first mission to carry a commercial satellite as primary payload and the second to carry a large commercial satellite.

ANSWER: Malaysia

Explanation:
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit was held in the month of November 2015 at Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur. The theme for the summit was “Our People, Our Community, Our vision” and summit was chaired by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. 10 ASEAN nations attended this summit.

ANSWER: 7th

Explanation:
Finance Ministry has set up an implementation cell to give effect to recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission. The cell has been set up in the Department of Expenditure for a period of 1 year w.e.f November 20, 2015. Apart from Joint Secretary, Cell will have nine officials and staff including Director level officer and 2 undersecretary level officers.

ANSWER: 2015

Explanation:
2015 is set to be the hottest year on record with 2016 set to be hotter on account of the El Nino weather pattern according to World Meteorological Organisation . Decisions taken at the soon to be held Paris summit could keep global temperatures rising within 2 degree celsius over pre-industrial times.

ANSWER: Visa Inc

Explanation:
Swatch Group CEO Nick Hayek signed a contract with credit card firm Visa Inc in association with a new Swiss watch that enables wearers to make payments. This device has been launched in China already where Swatch has partnered with China UnionPay. Swatch is now launching the watch in the US and Switzerland for which the collaboration with Visa Inc has been undertaken

ANSWER: National Judicial Reference System

Explanation:
This new facility is part of National Judicial Reference System/NJRS an electronic repository of cases under direct taxes, category or income tax in legal forums like ITAT and AAR. IT department has activated PAN based online system enabling taxmen to access cases in jurisdiction in just click of a mouse, building a database of appeals and judgements.

ANSWER: Mars

Explanation:
Mars’s largest moon Phobos is falling towards the planet and will soon disappear to form a ring much like Saturn and Jupiter. Phobos is set to be destroyed in 20 to 40 million years and the ring will exist from 1-100 million years. Phobos will not be able to resist tidal forces pulling it apart when it nears Mars, scientists have said. Mars’s other moon Deimos will remain. Scientists have also found the Sun’s UV rays caused Mars, which was once warmer and wetter, to lose its atmospheric CO2.