Current Affairs Oct 14th and Oct 15th 2016

1. The first elephant sanctuary in Latin America has opened in Brazil to provide a home for an estimated 50 circus animals from across the region.

• The Global Sanctuary for Elephants bought the land of 2,800 acres, for $1m (£820,000) to be paid over five years.
• The area is located in the western state of Mato Grosso.
• The first phase of the project will host up to six animals. The sanctuary will not be open for visitors.

2.  Eight BRICS Summit begins in Goa. 

BRICS brings together five major emerging economies, comprising 43% of the world population, having 30% of the world GDP and 17% share in the world trade.

The acronym BRIC was first used in 2001 by Goldman Sachs in their Global Economics Paper, "The World Needs Better Economic BRICs" on the basis of econometric analyses projecting that the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China would individually and collectively occupy far greater economic space and would be amongst the world’s largest economies in the next 50 years or so.

3. UIDAI Launches "Challenge Drive".

• UIDAI Unique Identification Authority of India Launches Challenge Drive to enroll leftover population for (12 digit resident identification number) Aadhar in 22 states.
• Drive will start from 15 Oct to 15th Nov 2016. 
• Drive for adult population only. 
• To achieve target of 100% Aadhar card.enrollment.
• Already Aadhaar numbers generated across the country - 106.69 crore.
• UIDAI CEO - Ajay Bhushan Pandey .

4. PM Modi has inaugurated Shaurya Smarak Memorial, a war memorial in Bhopal, MP dedicated to the soldiers of India. 

             

5. Govt to distribute subsidized pulses through postal network.

6. World Health Organisation-  “Global Tuberculosis Report 2016”. 

TB epidemic is larger than previously estimated, reflecting new surveillance and survey data from India. However, the number of TB deaths and the TB incidence rate continue to fall globally and in India.

In 2015, there were an estimated 10.4 million new (incident) TB cases worldwide, of which 5.9 million (56%) were among men, 3.5 million (34%) among women and 1.0 million (10%) among children. People living with HIV accounted for 1.2 million (11%) of all new TB cases.

Six countries accounted for 60% of the new cases: India, Indonesia, China, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa. 

Worldwide, the rate of decline in TB incidence remained at only 1.5% from 2014 to 2015.

This needs to accelerate to a 4–5% annual decline by 2020 to reach the first milestones of the End TB Strategy.

India, China and the Russian Federation accounted for 45% of the combined total of 580 000 cases.

There were an estimated 1.4 million TB deaths in 2015, and an additional 0.4 million deaths resulting from TB disease among people living with HIV.3 Although the number of TB deaths fell by 22% between 2000 and 2015, TB remained one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide in 2015.

Background

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030 were adopted by the United Nations in 2015. One of the targets is to end the global TB epidemic.

The WHO End TB Strategy, approved by the World Health Assembly in 2014, calls for a 90% reduction in TB deaths and an 80% reduction in the TB incidence rate by 2030, compared with 2015.

This global TB report is the first to be produced in the era of the SDGs and the End TB Strategy. It provides an assessment of the TB epidemic and progress in TB diagnosis, treatment and prevention eforts, as well as an overview of TB-specific financing and research.

The elimination of HFCs by 2050 is estimated to prevent about 0.5 degree rise in global temperatures by 2100. (Source: Reuters)

7. HFC gas phase-out: India, US reach compromise to fight climate change. 

 HFCs (HYDROFLOUROCARBONS) are used predominantly in the air-conditioning and refrigerant industry and are several hundred or thousand times more powerful than carbon dioxide in inducing global warming.

The elimination of HFCs by 2050 is estimated to prevent about 0.5 degree rise in global temperatures by 2100. So, the Montreal Protocol amendment is seen as one of the most important roads to reach the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global temperatures from rising beyond 2 degree Celsius compared to pre-industrial times.

• India Welcomes Landmark HFC Agreement at Kigali. 
• India joins the nations of the world in lauding the Hydroflurocarbon (HFC) Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, agreed to at the 28th Meeting of Parties at Kigali, Rwanda. 
• The Kigali Agreement is a reaffirmation of the global intent to mitigate climate change and exemplifies international co-operation in this regard. 
• The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol is legally binding and will come into force from January 1, 2019. 
•  The Agreement upholds the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR & RC). 
• It recognizes the development imperatives of high-growth economies like India, and provides a realistic and viable roadmap for the implementation of a phase-out schedule for high global warming potential (GWP) HFCs. 
• India had been arguing that it be allowed to meet its 2032 target of 10 per cent reduction without having a ‘freeze year’. 
• Following pressure from the US and other countries, India proposed 2030 as the freeze year. The US insisted on 2027. Finally, India got 2028 as the freeze year. 
• Developed countries are likely to start making reductions from 2019 against a baseline period of 2011-13 while another set of developing countries, including China, Brazil and South Africa, has 2020-22 as the baseline.

Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (a protocol to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer) is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion.It was agreed on 26 August 1987, and entered into force on 26 August 1989

8. DRDO Paid Tributes to Dr Kalam on his 85th Birth Anniversary 

Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) paid rich tributes to Former President of India and former DRDO Chief, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on his 85th Birth Anniversary at a gala function held in Kothari Auditorium at DRDO Bhawan. 

For the first time, students from various schools of Delhi were also invited at DRDO Bhawan on this occasion. The purpose was to motivate the children with the diverse and great qualities of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who had special affinity for children and youth of the country. Young scientist from various DRDO labs were also invited. 

9. India to collaborate with Germany for rail projects worth Rs 1 trillion.

• Representatives from Indian Port Rail Corporation Ltd and Deutsche Bahn AG will work out the details
• The Indian Port Rail Corporation Ltd was set up by the ministry of shipping for better cargo handling and to reduce the cost of logistics.

10.  Brazil won BRICS U-17 Football Tournament at Goa. 
The finals of the tournament was contested by Brazil and South Africa.



11.  Haryana Starts Farm Tourist Scheme .

In a bid to turn Haryana's hinterlands into tourist hot-spots, the state goverment started the 'Farm Tourism' scheme, under which registered farm owners can host tourists under holiday packages. 




Anurag Thakur attended the ICC board meeting in Cape Town as president of the BCCI.
12. BCCI president Anurag Thakur part of powerful ICC Finance committee

Earlier BCCI had raised objections earlier about not having a representative in the Financial and Commercial Affairs sub-committee.

13. Sales of Chinese goods decline 20% after social media campaign, claims traders body.

The social media campaign to boycott Chinese goods during Diwali has beaten down sentiment of retail traders as there has been a 20 percent decline in demand so far, traders body CAIT.
Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said that Chinese lighting and decorative products are widely used during Diwali and such materials start flooding the Indian markets three months prior to the festive season.

14.  Senior IAS officer Ajay Kumar Bhalla appointed as the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).

DGFT is entrusted with responsibilities for formulating and implementing the foreign trade policy with the main objective of promoting India's exports.

Nobel Prize Winners 2016: Complete List.

Nobel Prize Winners 2016: Complete List

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2016

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2016 was divided, one half awarded to David J. Thouless, and the other half jointly to F. Duncan M. Haldane and J. Michael Kosterlitz "for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter". The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has selected them for their individual researches.

The discoveries have paved the way for designing new materials with all sorts of novel properties that have significant potential to revolutionize advances in electronics and future quantum computers.Research work centers on Topology, a branch of mathematics involving step-wise changes like making a series of holes in an object.For example when matter goes from solid to liquid to gas different phases are obvious, but materials can also undergo topological step changes which affect their electrical properties. Such changes can be seen in a superconductor, which at low temperatures conducts electricity without resistance.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2016

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2016 was awarded jointly to Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa "for the design and synthesis of molecular machines". Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has chosen them for this award for their individual efforts in developing molecular machines. These three laureates will share the 8 million Swedish kronor (around $933,000) prize equally.

Molecular machines or nanomachines are the world’s smallest machines. Their working is inspired by proteins that naturally act as biological machines within cells. Molecular machines are discrete number of synthetic molecular components fused together. They produce quasi-mechanical movements in response to specific external stimuli such as light or temperature change.Molecular machines can be developed to function as artificial muscles to power tiny robots or even prosthetic limbs in case of Bionics.They may lead to developments like new sensors, materials and energy storage systems. They can be used to deliver drugs within the human body directly to target a specific area of tissue to medicate or cancerous cells.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2016

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2016 was awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi "for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy". With this, the sole winner becomes the 23rd Japanese national to win a Nobel prize and overall the sixth Japanese medicine Nobel laureate.

Autophagy is a process whereby cells “eat themselves”. It is a fundamental process in cell physiology dealing with how the body breaks down and recycles cellular components.Ohsumi’s discoveries in Autophagy have led to a new paradigm in the understanding of how the cell recycles its content. In his research, Mr. Ohsumi had used baker’s yeast to identify genes essential for autophagy.Ohsumi’s research had located the genes that regulate this self-eating process and also related that errors in these genes can cause disease. His findings have opened new path to understand importance of autophagy in many physiological processes, such as how body adapts to starvation or responds to infection.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016

US folk singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, originally Allen Zimmerman has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for having “created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”.

Dylan has been a popular choice for consideration over the years, despite his work not fitting into the traditional categories of novels and poems usually favoured by the judges.

The Nobel Peace Prize 2016

The Nobel Peace Prize 2016 was awarded to Juan Manuel Santos"for his resolute efforts to bring the country's more than 50-year-long civil war to an end".

Santos and the leader of the FARC rebel group, Rodrigo Londoño, known as Timochenko, were both considered leading contenders for the prize after signing the peace deal in September 2016 to end 52 years of war.

The Nobel Prize in Economics 2016

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded jointly to Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmström "for their contributions to contract theory". Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has selected them for their contributions to contract theory which tells how contracts help people deal with conflicting interests.

Their individual theories on contract theory are valuable to the understanding of real-life contracts and institutions, as well as potential pitfalls in contract design.Their work provided economists microecomic tools to understand interactions between entities, such as design of performance incentives in firms, corporate governance, privatisation, constitutional law and entrepreneur-investor relationships.

Must Know facts about Nobel Prize

• The Nobel Prizes were founded by Swedish industrialist and scientist Alfred Nobel who invented dynamite in 1866.
• In his will dated November 27, 1895, Nobel dedicated a mammoth share of his fortune to honour work by awarding prizes in five areas - Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, and Peace. Economics was added in 1969.
• The Nobel Prizes are announced in advance but distributed every year on December 10 to mark the death anniversary of Alfred Nobel.
• The Nobel Prizes for Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature and Economics are awarded at a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, while the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded at a different ceremony in Oslo, Norway.
• The  inscription on the Nobel Peace medal is- "Pro pace et fraternitate gentium," which means - "For the peace and brotherhood of men.
• "Posthumous nominations can't be made for Nobel Prizes. 
• More than three people can't share a Nobel Prize.Malala Yousufzai, a Pakistani child education activist, is the youngest person to achieve the Nobel at the age of 17 in the year 2014. 
  
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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. 

 

 

Nobel Prize WInners From India.

BRICS Summit 2016

2016 BRICS Summit

Eighth annual BRICS summit, an international relations conference attended by the heads of state or heads of government of the five member states Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The summit will be held at Goa in India, from 15th to 16th October 2016. India will hold the chair of the BRICS from February 2016 to December 2016

                 


BRICS 2016

August – Events and Outcomes

1-2 Aug – BRICS Workshop on Strengthening Health Surveillance, Bengaluru

22 Aug – BRICS Women Parliamentarians’ Forum, JaipurJaipur Declaration – Enablers for achieving SDG

22-23 Aug – 2nd meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Disaster Management, Udaipur
Udaipur Declaration – to enable Disaster Risk Management

National Waterways And Major Ports India.

CDS-II 2016 Booster. List of important Hurricane names 2015-2016.

1. Hurricane NICOLE - Bermuda 

Bermuda Location ; is a British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic Ocean, off the east shore of North America  (Red encircled portion)

2.  Hurricane MATTHEW- Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba , Florida and Bahamas..

• Hurricane Matthew was an extremely powerful, long-lived and deadly tropical cyclone which became the first Category 5 Atlantic hurricane since Hurricane Felix in 2007. The thirteenth named storm, fifth hurricane and secondmajor hurricane of the active 2016 Atlantic hurricane season, Matthew wrought widespread destruction and catastrophic loss of life during its journey across the Western Atlantic, including parts of the southeastern United States, having earlier impacted Haiti, Jamaica,Cuba, Dominican Republic and The Bahamas

3.  Hurricane EARL and Tropical Storm COLIN - Mexico. 

4. Hurricane HERMINE - Florida.

                                     

5. Tropical Storm BONNIE and Hurricane ALEX - Bahamas. 

6. Other Important names which occur around CENTRAL ATLANTIC BASIN are :-

Hurricane Danielle
Hurricane Fiona
Hurricane Ian
Hurricane Gaston
Hurricane Julia
Hurricane Karl
Hurricane Lisa 

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Current Affairs Oct 11, 2016.

1. Russia, China to Hold 2nd Missile Defense Drill in 2017. 

• Russia and China will hold their second missile defense drill in 2017, Beijing's military announced.
• The countries hold joint training exercises, while top defense officials meet for talks on international and regional security, as well as bilateral military and technical cooperation.
  
  
  

2. In 1925 Keshav Baliram Hedgewar founded RSS on Vijay Dashmi and since then its foundation day is celebrated on Dussehra day. 

RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat was all praise for the Indian Army's punitive strikes in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. He said that a message needed to be sent aloud that India has had enough of patience and it can retaliate with full force if it is compelled to.

Referring to the situation in Kashmir, Mohan Bhagwat said that the whole world knows that destructive powers from across border are fanning extremist sentiments to disturb peace in the valley
 
RSS -  is a right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation in India that is widely regarded as the parent organisation of the ruling party of India, the Bharatiya Janata Party.

3. 5th International Day of the Girl Child - Oct 11.

The day is being observed by UN to join global efforts to ensure a world free of discrimination for young women and girls. Theme 2016  - Focuses on adolescent girls and the Sustainable Development Goals, which set a range of international targets, including on gender equality, to be achieved by 2030. 4. Government to make payments under MGNREGA and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana through post offices. Payments under MGNREGA and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana will soon be made through post offices to ensure that welfare funds reach beneficiaries directly without any pilferage.Postal payment banks will soon be opened to make these payments as there are not many (commercial) bank branches. Post offices would also be in greater demand as many new financial products like credit, savings and current accounts, mutual funds, insurance and pensions would be operated through them. National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 It was later renamed as the "Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act" (or, MGNREGA), is an Indian labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the 'ight to Work'. It aims to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana SSY SSY (literally Girl Child Prosperity Account) is a Government of India backed saving scheme targeted at the parents of girl children.  The scheme encourages parents to build a fund for the future education and marriage expenses for their female child. 5. National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) president Raninder Singh congratulated ace shooter Jitu Rai for being awarded the 'Champion of Champions' title for pistol shooting in 2016 by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF). HIGHLIGHTS Jitu beat Serbia's Damir Mikec, 29.6 to 28.3 in the Champions Trophy 10m Air Pistol final Jitu was also awarded a cash reward of $5,587 (5000 euros) along with the title The Champions Trophy matches were held at the end of the Rifle and Pistol World Cup. 6. Ethiopia imposes state of emergency as unrest intensifies.  The state of emergency means that the Ethio­pian military will take over security across the country. There will be a lower threshold for the use of force, and due process will be suspended in some cases. Curfews will be decided on a case-by-case basis. Ethiopia has declared a state emergency following months of anti-government protests by members of the country's two largest ethnic groups. The Oromo and the Amhara make up the 60% of the populaion. They complain power is held by a tiny Tigrean elite. Ethiopian PM Hailemariam Desalegn has declared the state of emergency and will last for six months.  7. HIMANSH   It is India’s Remote and High-Altitude research Station opened recently in Himalaya. Key facts: It is Indian government’s initiatives to better study and quantify the Himalayan glacier responses towards the climate change. It is located at a remote region in Spiti, Himachal Pradesh. It has been established by the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), Goa, under the Ministry of Earth Sciences. The station houses many instruments to quantify the glacier melting and its relation to changing climate. Some of the instruments that are available at this research facility include, Automatic Weather Stations for weather monitoring, water level recorder for quantifying the glacier melt and ground penetrating radar to know the thickness of glaciers. The researchers would be using this as a base for undertaking surveys using Terrestrial Laser Scanners (TLS) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) that would digitize the glacier motion and snow cover variations with exceptional precision.    8. President of  Russia Vladimir Putin to embark on 4 day visit to India from October 14th.                                                .

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