Current Affairs - 17 April 2015

India test fires Agni-III ballistic missile

• 

  India on Thursday test-fired its nuclear-capable Agni-III ballistic missile, with a range of over 3,000 km, from a base in Odisha, an official said.

   The surface-to-surface missile was fired from a launch complex at the Inner Wheeler Island off the coast of Dhamra in Bhadrak district, about 200 km from here.

   Agni-III is capable of carrying warheads weighing up to 1.5 tonnes. It is 16 metres in length and weighs 48 tonnes. The missile has a two-stage solid propellant system. It can re-enter the atmosphere at a very high velocity.

   Agni-III is a rail mobile system capable missile and can be launched from anywhere in India.

'El Nino risks rising in India this yr

• The El Nino risks for this year is rising in India and it could result in sub-par rains, hurting rural demand and food inflation in the country, says a report.

  

   According to the Japanese brokerage firm Nomura, the possibility of El Nino conditions is developing this year and this could possibly push food inflation temporarily higher.

   El Nino conditions often, although not always, result in below-normal rains and hence suggest risk of sub-par rainfall during the monsoon season (June-September).

   The Australian Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology's Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) dropped to -11.2 in March from 0.6 in February. A sustained SOI reading below -8 indicates El Nino conditions.

   The bureau has raised the possibility of El Nino conditions developing this year to "at least 70 per cent" from 50 per cent earlier, Nomura said.

   India's agriculture economy is already reeling under the pressure of consecutive bad kharif (summer) and rabi (winter) seasons.

   "A third consecutive bad agricultural season could severely impact rural incomes, force the government to announce higher Minimum Support Prices and possibly push food inflation temporarily higher," Nomura India Chief Economist Sonal Varma said in a research note.

Indian-origin Satya Nadella tops global CEO pay chart

• 

  New York :  With a pay package of $84.3 million (Rs 525 crore) a year, technology giant Microsoft’s Indian-origin chief Satya Nadella has emerged as the top-paid CEO in the US, as per a new list, reports PTI.

   The Equilar 100 CEO Pay Study, an analysis of CEO salaries at the 100 largest public US companies as measured by revenue, was last year topped by Oracle’s Larry Ellison, who has been now pushed by Nadella to the second position.

   Another Indian-origin CEO, Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo, is ranked 19th with USD 19.08 million. Legendary investor Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway is ranked last at 100th position with a total compensation of USD 464,011 million.

   Ellison (USD 67.3 million) is followed by Steven Mollenkopf of Qualcomm at the third place on the list with USD 60.7 million.

   Others in the top-ten include Robert Iger (Walt Disney), Larry Merlo (CVS Health), K Rupert Murdoch (Twenty-First Century Fox), W James McNerney, Jr (Boeing). James Gorman (Morgan Stanley), David Cote (Honeywell International) and Kenneth Chenault (American Express). Equilar said that the median pay for 100 CEOs was USD 14.3 million, a rise of 5 per cent, in the past year, while base salaries ranged from USD 7.1 million for Rupert Murdoch at 21st Century Fox to nil for Richard Fairbank at Capital One.

Government moving fast on reforms: PM Narendra Modi tells Canadian CEOs

• 

  TORONTO: Inviting Canadian companies to invest in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told them that his government is fast-moving on reforms and has already opened up sectors like railways, insurance and housing.
  "Canada has capabilities. India provides opportunities. If both combine you can imagine how high the relationship can go," Modi told executives of top 30 Canadian companies here yesterday.
  
  

  The Prime Minister told the CEOs that, "there are several capabilities and opportunities in the India-Canada relationship."
  Prime Minister Stephen Harper was also present during the meeting.
  "You have a lot of capabilities but Canada is a small place for you considering your potential so it is important for you to look for new open fields. The most appropriate in this regard is India which has 125 crore people, demography, democracy and demand," Modi said.
  
  

  He said, "After a long time there is a stable and progressive government in India which can provide maximum benefits."
  
  He told the CEOs that India is fast-moving towards reforms and opportunities are innumerable ..
  
  

  Modi also mentioned opening up of sectors like railways, insurance and housing.
  "There have been several progressive decisions one after another. I want Canadian companies to take advantage of it," Modi said.
  
  He also talked about solid waste management as part of the 'Clean India' campaign, giving the slogan from "waste to wealth." He said whoever has expertise should come to India in this regard.
  
  Modi also mentioned opening up of sectors like railways, insurance and housing.
  "There have been several progressive decisions one after another. I want Canadian companies to take advantage of it," Modi said.
  
  He also talked about solid waste management as part of the 'Clean India' campaign, giving the slogan from "waste to wealth." He said whoever has expertise should come to India in this regard.
  Modi also discussed the 100 smart cities programme. "The US has already decided to develop three cities. Japan and Australia have also done so and Canadian companies should also come," he said.

NASA reveals first ever colour image of Pluto

• 

  NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, set to fly by the Pluto system on July 14, has sent its first colour image of the dwarf planet and its largest moon Charon.

   “The image reveals tantalising glimpses of this system,” Jim Green, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division, said in a statement.

  Charon is seen dimmer than Pluto in the image taken from a distance of 115 million km.

  “The contrast may be due to a difference in composition of the two bodies or it could even be caused by a previously unseen atmosphere on Charon,” Green added.

  The uncertainty should clear up this summer when New Horizons gets history’s first good look at the two frigid, faraway objects.

  “We are going to Pluto because it is the human race’s first opportunity to study an entirely new class of world,” added William McKinnon, New Horizons co-investigator from the Washington University in St. Louis.

  Till date, astronomers knew about only one moon of Pluto called Charon which is nearly 50 percent as wide as the dwarf planet.

  Exactly 85 years after Pluto’s discovery, New Horizons has now spotted small moons orbiting Pluto.

  The moons, Nix and Hydra, are visible in a series of images taken by the New Horizons spacecraft at distances ranging from about 201 to 186 million km.

  The long-exposure images offer New Horizons’ best view yet of these two small moons circling Pluto which professor Clyde Tombaugh discovered at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona Feb 18, 1930.

  Nix and Hydra were discovered by New Horizons team members in Hubble Space Telescope images taken in 2005.

  Hydra, Pluto’s outermost known moon, orbits Pluto every 38 days at a distance of approximately 64,700 km while Nix orbits every 25 days at a distance of 48,700 km.

Bank account penetration in India increased: World Bank

• 

  Bank account penetration in India increased from 35 per cent to 53 per cent between 2011 and 2014, but the country also suffers from high dormancy rates, says a World Bank report. 

  Translated into absolute numbers, this growth in number of bank accounts means that 175 million in India became account holders between 2011 and 2014. 

  According to the World Bank, the rise in number of bank accounts was to a large extent due to government’s push for financial inclusion. 

  In August 2014, the Indian government launched Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana scheme for comprehensive financial inclusion with the goal of opening a bank account for every household.

  “By the end of January 2015, it had led to the opening of 125 million new bank accounts; as a point of comparison, a 2013 survey had found that fewer than 400 million people in the country had an account,” the report said.

  Under the scheme more than 97 per cent of the accounts were opened with the public banks, but around 72 per cent of these accounts show ‘zero balances’

  The World Bank report also noted that dormancy rate in India is quite high at 43 per cent and accounts for about 195 million of the 460 million adults with a dormant account around the world.

  In sharp contrast, the dormancy rate is as low as 5 per cent in high income economies from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Moreover, only 39 per cent of all account holders in India own a debit or ATM card, and using an account might be inconvenient and time-consuming if every transaction requires using a bank teller.

  In India, not only account penetration is comparatively low, at 53 per cent, but so is the use of accounts for payments — mere 15 per cent of adults reported using an account to make or receive payments.

  In Brazil and China about 40 per cent of adults reported using an account to make or receive payments.

IPL 8: Rahane's fluent knock powers Rajasthan to win over SRH

• 

  Riding on Ajinkya Rahane's fifty Rajasthan Royals beat SunRisers Hyderabad by 6 wickets to notch up their fourth consecutive win in this edition of the IPL cricket tournament here today.

  Chasing a modest 128 for a win, the table-toppers made heavy weather of the run chase, achieving the target on the last delivery of the match.

  The SRH bowlers did well to take the match thus far but Rahane's 56-ball 62 proved to be the difference between the two sides.

  Man-of-the-match Rahane, who registered his first half-century of the this season, and Sanju Samson (26) worked well for their 64-run opening stand before a few wickets made the match exciting in the end.A chance for SRH came in the seventh over when Samson clubbed the ball in the mid-off region but the skier was floored by Ashish Reddy after the fielder got to the ball by making good ground but failed to pouch it. The unlucky bowler was Praveen Kumar.But come the 11th over and Ravi Bopara was more than lucky as wicketkeeper Naman Ojha came up with a brilliant diving catch to send back Samson back in the dug out to give SRH some hope.The wicket did dry up the flow of runs for the visitors, but the lack of runs on the board helped their cause as Rahane stayed on with skipper Steven Smith (13) to bring them closer to a win.

  Smith (135 in 4 matches), who was overtaken by opposition captain David Warner (131 in 3 matches) in the first innings, edged out the Australian in the run-scorers list but Rahane (155) it was who surpassed the two to wear the Orange Cap.Smith though was done in by leg-spinner Karn Sharma in the 14th over and Bopara struck for the second time in the very next over to get Karun Nair (1) caught and bowled.Rahane, whose knock was lace with 9 boundaries, couldn't enjoy taking the team to the finish line as Trent Boult got the top-scorer clean bowled in the 19th over.Needing 5 to defend of the final 6 deliveries, Kumar bowled well but James Faulkner (6 not out) hit the winning four off the final ball. Stuart Binny did well to stay unbeaten on 16.

  Earlier, backing Smith's decision to field first on a slowish track, RR bowlers Dhawal Kulkarni and Pravin Tambe picked up two wickets each to restrict SRH to 127 for five in 20 overs.

General Knowledge Practice Paper

• 1. Consider the following statements and choose the correct statements.      

            

   1. An international jury has declared Thane as the National Earth Hour Capital from India in this year.

   2. India has been designated as Chair to the Ninth Meeting of International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Council in Abu     Dhabi.

  3. Chhattisgarh is the first state to integrate its treasuries with the core business solution (CBS) of RBI, called e-Kuber for making e-payments. 

             Code:

                     (a) 1 and 3

                    

                     (b) 1 and 2

  
  

                     (c) 1, 2 and 3

  
  

                           (d) 2 and 3
• 2. According to the UNESCO global education report:
  1. India has reduced its out of school children by over 90% and has achieved universal primary education.
  2. India is predicted to be the only country in South and West Asia to have an equal ratio of girls to boys in both primary and secondary education.
  3. Globally, one-third of countries have achieved all of the measurable Education for All (EFA) goals set in 2000.
      Which of the above sentence(s) is/are true?
               (a) 1 and 2
               (b) 1 and 3
               (c) 2 and 3
               (d) 1, 2 and 3
• 3. Consider the following sentences regarding MUDRA Bank which was recently launched by PM.

  1. It will refinance Micro-Finance Institutions through a Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana.

                 2. In lending, priority will be given to SC/ST enterprises.

                 3. It set up through a statutory enactment.

                Which of the above sentence(s) is/are true?

                     (a) 2 and 3

                     (b) 1 and 3

                     (c) 1 and 2

                     (d) 1, 2 and 3
• 
  

  4. Consider the following sentences in context of Project ‘Mausam’:

  1. It is a Project under the Government of India to revive historic maritime cultural and economic ties with 39 Indian Ocean countries.

  2. It was launched in the 30th Session of World Heritage Committee meeting which was held at Doha, Quatar.

  3. The Ministry of Culture with Archaeological Society of India (ASI) as the nodal agency of this Project.

      Which of the above sentence(s) is/are true?

               (a) 1 and 3

               (b) 2 and 3

               (c) 1, 2 and 3

               (d) 1 and 2
  
• 
  

  5. Consider the following sentences regarding Air Quality Index which was recently launched.

            1. It is the India’s first Air Quality index.

            2. It will be operational in Ten Indian Cities.

            3. The index inform the public about the level of pollution in the air on a daily basis in real-time.

            Which of the above sentence(s) is/are true?

                     (a) 1 and 2

                     (b) 2 and 3

                     (c) 1 and 3

                     (d) 1, 2 and 3
• 
  

  1. Consider the following statement(s):-

  1. India George Allencherry has received his biretta hat from Pope Benedict XVI. He is appointed cardinal during the consistory on February 18, 2012 at St. Peter's Basilica at Vatican.

  2. Nik wallenda is set to follow in the footsteps of the legendary Charles Blondin by Crossing Niagra falls on a tightrope after Canadian authorities granted permission for the stunt to take place this summer.

  3. India could be declared a polio free country in January, 2014.

  Which of the above statement is/are correct?

  (a) 1, 2 and 3

  (b) 1 and 2

  (c) 2 and 3

  (d) None of these
• 
  

     2. Consider the following statement(s):-

   1. Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) and the two other companies (Greater Dholera Infracon and Nano  Works Developer Gujarat) have agreed to accept the Gujarat government's offer to buy larger tracts of land  within the Dholera special investment Region (SIR)

   2. Authorities of the Italian oil tanker Enrica Lexie have agreed to hand over two navy men who allegedly shot  dead two Indian Fisher men on February 15, 2012 off the Kollam Coast.

   Which of the above statement is/are not correct

  (a) 1 and 2

  (b) Only 2

  (c) Only 1

  (d) None of these
  
• 
  

   3. Consider the following statement(s):-

  1. Union cabinet has approved the setting up of a New Rail Coach Manufacturing Unit at Palakkod to build 400 coaches per annum at an estimated cost of 550 crore rupees.

  2. Central Bank of India launched a special scheme 'Cent Vayushakti' to promote defence salary package. The scheme will provide high-end range of banking facilities to serving and retired Air Force personnel.

  Which of the above statement is/are incorrect

  (a) 1 and 2

  (b) Only 1

  (c)Only 2

  (d) None of these
  
• 
  

   4. Consider the following statement(s):-

  1. National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) has launched by central government on 11 March 2011.

  2. NCTC is a High Power body that works under NIA (National Investigating Agency)

  Which of the above statement is/are incorrect

  (a) 1 and 2

  (b) Only 1

  (c) Only 2

  (d) None of these
  
• 
  

   5. According to a report by real estate consultants cushman & wakefield, for the first time in six years Mumbai's    Nariman point has been dropped from the list of top 10 global commercial rentals. Which position has now        Mumbai slipped?

  (a)11th

  (b)15th

  (c)16th

    (d)20th
• 
  

   Answers

    1 d

    2 a

    3 d

    4 a

    5 b