Current Affairs Questions and Answers - August 12, 2015

ANSWER: A. Supreme Court

The court made it clear that even for availing facilities PDS, kerosene and LPG distribution system the card will not be mandatory. It barred the authorities from sharing personal biometric data collected for enrollment under the scheme. It directed that the information received by UIDAI shall not be used for any other purposes, except in criminal investigation with the permission of the court. A Constitution bench of the apex court will also decide the larger question of whether collecting biometric data for preparing Aadhar cards infringeds an individual's privacy and if right to privacy was a fundamental right.

ANSWER: B. Sundar Pichai

The Chennai born 43-year-old IIT Kharagpur graduate is the second person of Indian-origin to head an IT company after Hyderabad-born Satya Nadella, who became the CEO of software giant Microsoft in February 2014.

ANSWER: C. Japan

Japan switched on a nuclear reactor for the first time in nearly two years, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeks to reassure a nervous public that tougher standards mean the sector is now safe after the Fukushima disaster in 2011. Of Japan's 25 reactors at 15 plants for which operators have applied for permission to restart, only five at three plants have been cleared for restart.

ANSWER: A. Leander Paes

Sania is only the second tennis player after Leander Paes to be named for the top award. Paes had been bestowed the honour way back in 1996 after his bronze medal in the Atlanta Olympics. The Hyderabadi girl had won the Arjuna award in 2004. In 2006, she was bestowed the Padma Shri the country's fourth highest civilian honour.

ANSWER: C. World Bank

The objective of NCRMP-II is to reduce vulnerability to cyclone and other hydro-meteorological hazards of coastal communities in the States of Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and West Bengal; and increase the capacity of the State entities to effectively plan for and respond to disasters. NCRMP-II has four components which are: (i) Early Warning Dissemination Systems; (ii) Cyclone Risk Mitigation Infrastructure; (iii) Technical Assistance for Multi-Hazard Risk Management; and (iv) Project Management and Implementation Support.

ANSWER: D. Kochi

The invitation was formally accepted by the Kerala State Tourism Dept. on 10th Aug’15.

ANSWER: A. M.Veerappa Moily

ANSWER: D. Alphabet

Google has a new owner: a holding company called Alphabet, run by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Alphabet owns a few other things, too: namely, every company ever created or acquired under the tech giant’s many-tentacled purview.

ANSWER: C. 9th August

The theme for this year was “Post 2015 Agenda: Ensuring indigenous peoples' health and well-being”.

ANSWER: B. Disha

The app also aims to offer digital literacy to tribal and Dalit women in the state. The app can be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store.

ANSWER: C. Amitabh Bachchan

On 10 Aug’15, Amitabh Bachchanaccepted the proposal of Maharashtra Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar to be the Maharashtra’s Tiger Ambassador of the state.

ANSWER: D. 37%

Indirect tax revenue jumped over 37.6 per cent to over 2.1 lakh crore rupees during April-July period of current fiscal due to the higher excise collections. A press release issued by the Finance Ministry on 11th Aug’15 stated that the indirect tax collections were 1.53 lakh crore rupees during the similar period of the previous fiscal. While in July 2015-16, the indirect tax collections grew by 39.1 per cent from a year ago period to 56,739 crore rupees.