Current Affairs Oct 12 Anda Oct 13, 2016.

1. India ranked in out of 118 countries at Global Hunger Index 2016 - 97th.

• Countries worse than India include extremely poor African countries such as Niger, Chad, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone besides two of India's neighbours: Afghanistan and Pakistan. Other neighbours Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are all ranked above India.
• GHI is calculated by taking into account four key parameters: shares of undernourished population, wasted and stunted children aged under 5, and infant mortality rate of the same age group.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) makes the annual calculations of GHI.

IFPRI -

• It is an international agricultural research center
• Founded - 1975
• Location-Washington, D.C., USA

2. The first World Tsunami Awareness Day to be observed on- 5th Nov. First World Tsunami Awareness Day will be observed on November 5 during the upcoming Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) 2016.

• The conference slated to take place between November 2-5.
• It is being organised by the government of India in collaboration with the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).
• It will include various activities to raise awareness through thematic events, exhibitions, and distribution of awareness materials.

• "The observance of the day would help to spread awareness among people across the world in matters related to the dangers of tsunami and shall stress on the importance of early warning systems in order to mitigate damage from the often devastating natural hazard".
• "It also aims at reviving traditional knowledge about tsunamis".
• India, along with 23 other Indian Ocean countries, participated in a tsunami mock drill on September 7-8.

3. Team India skipper Virat kohli presented with ICC Test Championship mace for leading India to top of  Cricket Test Team Rankings. 



 
4.  Bob Dylan Awarded Nobel Prize in Literature.

• It is the first time the honor has gone to a musician. 
• In its citation, the Swedish Academy credited Mr. Dylan with “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition. 

5. Portugal's former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres appointed as the next Secretary-General of the United Nations by the General Assembly.

• The 193 member states of the powerful General Assembly adopted the resolution by acclamation, appointing 67-year-old
• Guterres as the 9th UN Secretary-General to take over from Ban Ki-moon in 2017, whose tenure will end on December 31.

6. Winter session of  Parliament set to begin from November 16th.

7. Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital today after 70 years on the throne. He was 88.
He was seen as a stabilising figure in a country hit by cycles of political turmoil and multiple coups.

8. Human hair used to produce cheaper cathodes for solar cells

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Kolkata have used human hair to produce cost-effective, metal-free cathodes for use in solar cells. This is the first instance where a bio-waste-derived electrode has been used as cathode in a quantum dot sensitised solar cell device.

How is it done?

Producing graphitic porous carbon cathode using human hair is simple, quick and inexpensive. Unlike in the case of other synthetic porous carbons, no physical or chemical activation process or templates are required to produce the pores of 2-50 nm diameter.

• The porosity, along with high surface area to volume ratio, plays an important role in adsorption-desorption of electrolyte.
• The cleaned and dry human hair is first treated with sulphuric acid at 165 degrees C for 25 minutes to achieve precarbonisation. It is then heated to different temperatures in the presence of an inert gas for six hours to carbonise and bring better electrical conductivity for efficient charge transfer.

Benefits:

• The cathode shows an impressive performance in converting visible sunlight to electricity much higher than commercially available activated carbon cathodes and is comparable with commonly used cathodes made of platinum metal and metal sulfides.
• Besides its higher efficiency to convert visible sunlight to electricity, the cathode was found to generate high open-circuit voltage, which is at par with conventional platinum and activated carbon cathodes. Thereby, the power conversion efficiencies can also be enhanced.
• They also have the potential to bring down the cost of solar cells.

9. 28th India and Indonesia Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) and Second Bilateral Maritime Exercise have commenced at Belawan, Indonesia in the Andaman Sea.

 Key Facts

• The 17-day-long bilateral exercise (from 10 to 27, October, 2016) will demonstrate India’s commitment to its ties with Indonesia and to maritime security in Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
• The bilateral maritime exercise and CORPAT will see participation by one warship and one maritime patrol aircraft from navies of both countries.
• India will be represented by INS Karmuk, an indigenously built missile corvette, based under Andaman and Nicobar Command alongwith a Dornier Maritime Patrol Aircraft.

                                                                 

10. Indian Oil Corp (IOC) plans to lay the nation's longest LPG pipeline from Gujarat coast to Gorakhpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh to cater to growing demand for cooking gas in the country. 

• IOC plans to import LPG at Kandla in Gujarat and move it through the 1,987 kilometer pipeline to Gorakhpur via Ahmedabad (in Gujarat), Ujjain, Bhopal (in Madhya Pradesh), Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi and Lucknow (in Uttar Pradesh). 
• The pipeline will carry 3.75 million tons per annum of LPG .

More Facts :- 

• LPG will be fed into the pipeline at Kandla port as well as IOC's Koyali refinery in Gujarat. 
• This will be the biggest LPG pipeline in the country. GAIL currently operates a 1,415-km line from Jamnagar in Gujarat to Loni near here. The line carries 2.5 million tons of LPG annually. 
• GAIL also has a 623-km Vizag-Secunderabad pipeline. IOC also has a 274-km pipeline from Panipat in Haryana to Jalandhar.