GK & Current Affairs – August 13, 14, 2016

1. India’s first touch-and-feel garden for visually impaired has been set up in which state?
[A]Kerala
[B]Tamil Nadu
[C]Karnataka
[D]Assam
Answer: Kerala
Notes:
India’s first touch-and-feel garden for visually impaired has been inaugurated by the Kerala Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan on the Calicut University campus in Thenjipalam, Kerala. The garden with nearly 6 dozen aromatic plants will provide the visually impaired a unique opportunity of learning. They can study the plants not only by touching, feeling, smelling and tasting them, but also through audio inputs to get complete information about them.
2. India’s first facility to produce nickel metal has been launched in which of the following states?
[A]Odisha
[B]Chhattisgarh
[C]Uttar Pradesh
[D]Jharkhand
Answer: Jharkhand
Notes:
India’s first facility to produce nickel, a metal for which India is completely dependent on imports, has been launched by the Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) at its Indian Copper Complex (ICC) at Ghatshila in Jharkhand. The new facility “Nickel, Copper and Acid Recovery Plant” is the first facility in India to produce nickel metal of London Metal Exchange (LME) grade from primary resource. The annual demand for pure nickel in India is around 45,000 MT and its domestic market is totally dependent on import.
3. Who has won the 2016 PSA Australian Open?
[A]Mayar Hany
[B]Dipika Pallikal
[C]Ritika Bhattacharya
[D]Joshna Chinappa
Answer: Dipika Pallikal
Notes:
Dipika Pallikal, India’s top squash player, has won the PSA Australian Open by defeating Mayar Hany of Egypt in final by 10-12, 11-5, 11-6, 11-4 in Melbourne, Australia. It is her first title of 2016.
4. Which committee has been constituted by Union Government on trade facilitation?
[A]Pradeep Kumar Sinha committee
[B]Venkaiah Naidu committee
[C]Arun Jaitley committee
[D]Mahesh Kumar Singla committee
Answer: Pradeep Kumar Sinha committee
Notes:
The Union Government has constituted a National Committee on Trade Facilitation (NCTF) under the Chairmanship Pradeep Kumar Sinha, who is the Cabinet Secretary of India, to develop the pan-India road map for trade facilitation.The NCTF has been constituted in line with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) pact in April 2016 on Trade Facilitation Agreement (FTA), which India also ratified. The committee will facilitate domestic coordination and implementation of the TFA provisions. It will also synergise the various trade facilitation perspectives across the country and focus on an outreach programme for sensitization of stakeholders about it.
5. The World Elephant Day is observed on which day?
[A]August 11
[B]August 13
[C]August 14
[D]August 12
Answer: August 12
Notes:
The World Elephant Day is observed every year on August 12 to create awareness of the urgent plight of African and Asian elephants, and to share knowledge and positive solutions for the better care and management of captive and wild elephants.
6. Who has been appointed as the new Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court?
[A]Rahul Bhattacharya
[B]Gautam Eknath Thakur
[C]Manjula Chellur
[D]Dhirendra Hiralal Waghela
Answer: Manjula Chellur
Notes:
Justice Manjula Chellur will be the new Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. She will succeed CJ Dhirendra Hiralal Waghela on or before August 24, 2016. Currently, Justice Chellur is the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court.
7. Na Muthukumar, who passed away recently, was related to which field?
[A]Photography
[B]Journalism
[C]Sports
[D]Film Industry
Answer: Film Industry
Notes:
Na Muthukumar (41), the two time national award-winning Tamil film lyricist, has recently passed away in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Muthukumar has written more than 1,000 lyrics in various movies and also penned novel “Silk City” in Tamil.
8. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has recently tied up with Union Bank of India to launch an USSD based *99# mobile application for their customers. What does USSD stands for?
[A]Unstructured Server Service Data
[B]Unstructured Supplicant Service Data
[C]Unstructured Supplementary Service Data
[D]Unstructured Superability Service Data
Answer: Unstructured Supplementary Service Data
Notes:
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has recently tied up with Union Bank of India (UBI) to launch an USSD based *99# mobile application for their customers. The Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) is a GSM based technology i.e. used to send text between a mobile phone and an application program in the network. The *99# mobile app provides basic banking facilities like checking account balance, sending money, Mobile PIN (MPIN) management and value added services like checking Aadhaar linked overdraft status and PMJDY account overdraft status. It is also available in 10 languages.
9. NASSCOM has recently launched its startup warehouse in which city of India?
[A]Chennai
[B]New Delhi
[C]Visakhapatnam
[D]Hyderabad
Answer: Visakhapatnam
Notes:
The National Association of Software and Services (NASSCOM), an apex IT industry body in India, has recently launched its startup warehouse at Sunrise Startup Village at Rushikonda in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. This is the 1st such facility for young IT professionals in Andhra Pradesh.The warehouse would provide affordable co-working space with incubation for 6 months and is considered to be a wonderful opportunity for technology startups with plug and play work environment and regular community events for mentorship and bringing venture capitalists and angel investors to spot viable startups with out-of-the-box ideas.
10. The book “The Gospel of Yudas” has been authored by whom?
[A]Deb Sanjoy Gupta
[B]K.R. Meera
[C]Manju Lodha
[D]Tushar Agarwal
Answer: K.R. Meera
Notes:
The book “The Gospel of Yudas” has been authored by K.R. Meera. The book raises alarmingly pertinent questions about the politics of faithfulness and the price of idealism.It is also a deeply human story about sorrow, redemption and love. .Check the Video version of this quiz here

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