mock clat - 02 focus... · clatfocus (april-2017) © this module is part of copyrighted material,...
Post on 18-Feb-2018
221 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 1
A monthly magazine of Current Affairs
April -2017
Chief Editor
Kanchan Deep Chaudhary
________________________________
Edited, Owned,
Printed & Published By
F-1/5, West Patel Nagar, Near LIC Office,
Circuit House Road, Jodhpur (Rajasthan)
Tel.0291-2512639, 2511077, 099290-74123
E-mail: info@crackclat.com
Website: www.crackclat.com
CONTENTS
Important Officials……………2
CRACK CLAT Bullets………..5
Latest in General Knowledge…8
Appointments
Awards & Honors
Books & Authors
Constitutional/Law
Defense
Economic Scenario
Ecology & Environment
Places
Report & Index
Software & Telecom
Persons in News………………14
Current Topics – India………..15
Current Topics – World……....17
Latest in Sports………………..21
Static GK Capsules……………23
Current Affairs MCQs………..26
Answer Key of MCQs………..32
______________________
CRACK CLAT TUTORIALS Study Material is for
internal circulation. This booklet is not for sale
separately, and is only for our registered students.
All rights reserved. No part of this issue can be
reprinted in whole or in part without the written
permission of the publishers.
The editors and publishers of this magazine do their
best to verify the information published, but do not take
responsibility for the absolute accuracy of the
information.
All disputes subject to Jodhpur jurisdiction only.
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 2
Important Officials
Pranab Mukherjee President
Hamid Ansari Vice-President
Narendra Modi Prime Minister, Public Grievances and Pension, Atomic Energy and Space
Department
Judicial Heads
Designation Person
Chief Justice, Supreme Court : Jagdish Singh Khehar
Attorney General : Mukul Rohtagi
Solicitor General : Ranjit Kumar
Chairperson, National Green Tribunal : Justice Swatantra Kumar
Chairperson, Intellectual Property : KN Basha
Appellate Tribunal
Chairperson, Armed Forces Tribunal : Virender Singh
Heads of Armed Forces
Designation Person
Air Force Chief : Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa
Navy Chief : Admiral Sunil Lanba
Army Chief : Gen. Bipin Rawat
Heads of Intelligence Organisations
Designation Person
Director, Intelligence Bureau (IB) : Rajiv Jain
Director, CBI : Alok Kumar Verma
Director, Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) : Anil Dhasmana
Director, National Technical Research : Alok Joshi
Organisation (NTRO) :
Chairperson, National Investigation : Sharad Kumar
Agency (NIA)
Election Commission
Designation Person
Chief Election Commissioner : Syed Naseem Ahmed Zaidi
Election Commissioner I : Achal Kumar Jyoti
Election Commissioner II : Om Prakash Rawat
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 3
Heads of Various Boards
Designation Person
Chairperson, Railway Board : AK Mittal
Chairperson, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board : SA Bhardwaj
Chairperson, CBDT : Sushil Chandra
Chairperson, Company Law Board : Mahesh Mittal Kumar
Chairperson, SEBI : Ajay Tyagi
Chairperson, Central Board of Film Certification : Pahlaj Nihalani
Chairperson, Central Social Welfare Board : Durgabai Deshmukh
Chairperson, Petroleum & Natural Gas : S. Krishnan
Regulatory Board
Director, NCERT : Hrushikesh Senapathy
Chairperson, Central Board of Secondary : Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi
Education
Chairman, CBEC : Najib Shah
Constitutional Heads
Designation Person
Speaker, Lok Sabha : Sumitra Mahajan
Deputy Speaker, Lok Sabha : M. Thambidurai
Comptroller and Auditor General : Shashikant Sharma
Chairperson, 14th Finance Commission : YV Reddy
Chairperson, National Commission for Woman : Lalitha Kumarmanglam
Chairperson, National Commission for : PL Poonia
Scheduled Castes
Chairperson, National Commission for : Nand Kumar Sai
Scheduled Tribes
Chairperson, National Commission for : Wangla Ishwaraiah
Backward Classes
Chairperson, National Human Rights : HL Dattu
Commission
Chairperson, Union Public Service : David R. Syiemlieh
Commission
Heads of Financial Institutes/Organisations
Designation Person
Vice President, NITI Aayog : Arvind Panagariya
Governor, Reserve Bank of India : Urjit Patel
Chairperson, FICCI : Pankaj Patel
Chairperson, Unit Trust of India : SB Mathur
Chairperson, Life Insurance Corporation of : SK Roy
India
Chairperson, NABARD : Harsha Kumar Bhanwala
CMD, SIDBI : Chhatrapati Shivaji
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 4
Chairperson, National Housing Bank : Sriram Kalyanaraman
Chairperson, ASSOCHAM : Sandeep Jojodia
Chairperson, International Chamber of : Rajan Bharati Mittal
Commerce
Chairperson, Multi Commodities Exchange : Mrugank Parajapey
Chairperson, Indian Banks Association : Rajiv Rishi
CMD, Oriental Insurance Company : Sujay Banarji
Director General, Employee‘s State Insurance : Deepak Kumar
Corporation
Chairperson, Institute of Company Secretary : Shyam Agrawal
of India
Heads of International Institutes/Organisations
Designation Person
General Secretary, United Nations : Antonio Guterres
Organisation
India‘s Permanent Representative, UNO : Syed Akbaruddin
Secretary General, SAARC : Amjad Hussain
President, UN General Assembly : Peter Thomson
Director General, International Atomic : Yukia Amano
Energy Agency
Director General, International Labour : Guy Ryder
Organisation
Director General, FAO : Jose Graziano da Silva
Director-General, World Health Organisation : Margaret Chan
Director General, UNESCO : Irina Bakova
Director, UNHCR : Filippo Grandi
Director General, International Monetary Fund : Christine Lagarde
President, World Bank : Jim Yong Kim
Chairperson, European Bank for : Suma Chakrabarti
Reconstruction & Development
Director General, World Trade Organisation : Roberto Azevedo
Director General, UNCTAD : Mukhisa Kituyi
Administrator, UNDP : Helen Clarke
Secretary General, Organisation of : Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu
Islamic Conference
Chairperson, European Commission : Martin Schultz
Chairperson, European Union : Donald Tusk
Chairperson, Non-Aligned Movement : Raul Castro
Chairperson, NASA : Charles F. Bolden
President, Interpol : Meng Hongwei
Chairperson, Asian Development Bank : Takehiko Nakao
Chairperson, New Development Bank : KV Kamath
President, AIIB : Jin Liqun
Chairperson, Commonwealth : Patricia Scotland
Director, IPCC : Hoesung Lee
Secretary General, NATO : Jens Stoltenberg
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 5
President, UN Human Rights Council : Choi Kyong-lim
Secretary-General, ASEAN : Lee Luang Minh
Chairman, International Cricket : Shashank Manohar
Council
President, International Cricket Council : Zaheer Abbas
President, International Paralymic Committee : Philip Craven
President, IAAF : Sebastian Coe
Secretary-General, Gulf Cooperation Council : Abdul Rahman ibn Hamad al Attiyah
Director-General, UNIDO : Kandeh Yumkella
Head, World Food Programme : Ertharin Cousin
Vice-President, World Bank : Hiroshi Naka
Executive Director, United Nations International : Antony Lake
Children‘s Emergency Fund
President, International Court of Justice : Ronny Abraham
President, International Olympic Committee : Thomas Bach
President, FIFA : Gianni Infantino
High Commissioner, UN Commission on : Zeid Ra‘ad Al Hussein
Human Right
Director-General, International Atomic Energy : Yukiya Amano
Agency
CRACKCLAT Bullets
National
The Committee, who has submitted report to the
government of India to strengthen border protection
Madhukar Gupta Committee
Who has inaugurated the 5th foundation day
function of BIRAC? Harsh Vardhan
The Union Minster Arjun Ram Meghwal has
inaugurated a passport seva kendra at a post office
in Bikaner
The Parliamentary Committee has suggested merger
of State-run telecom firms BSNL and MTNL for
their long-term survival Bhagat Singh Koshyari
Committee
Which Court accorded the status of ‗living human
entities‘ to the India‘s most sacred Ganga and
Yamuna rivers? Uttarakhand High Court
The city is hosting the 15th edition of ‗All India
Meet of State Legal Services Authorities New Delhi
The first fully India-made 12-coach train has
flagged off between Dadar to Borivali at Lokmanya
Tilak Terminus in Mumbai, Maharashtra Medha
The country is hosting the International Diamond
Conference ‗Mines to Market 2017‘ India
The State government has launched ‗Adarsh Gram
Yojana‘ for rural poor Arunachal Pradesh
The 2017 National Theatre Festival (NTF) has
started in which State? Kerala
The Union Minister has launched the first-of-its-
kind Air Conditioned jacket made of cotton fabric
Giriraj Singh
The largest flag inaugurated on India‘s tallest post
at Attari Border
Who has launched the web portal for obtaining
Coastal Regulation Zone clearances in New Delhi?
Anil Madhav Dave
Who has launched ‗Swachh Shakti Saptah‘ to raise
awareness on sanitation and cleanliness in
Gurugram, Haryana? Narendra Singh Tomar
The city hosted the 4th India-CLMV Business
Conclave 2017 Jaipur
International
Who will host the 25th edition of Commonwealth
Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in April,
2018? United Kingdom
This city has topped the list in the Mercer‘s 2017
Quality of Living index Vienna
As per latest UN report ‗Women in Politics 2017
Map ‗India‘s rank in the world for the number of
MPs in Parliament 148th
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 6
The 2017 G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank
Governors Meeting has started in the country
Germany
Who has attended from India in the Summit of the
21-nation Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) in
Jakarta, Indonesia? Hamid Ansari
The island country in South Asia has won the ‗Most
Popular Tourism Destination Award‘ at the
Guangzhou International Travel Fair (GITF) in
China Sri Lanka
The Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) meeting
will held in the city Lahore
The country to build its‘ first national under water
observatory in disputed South China Sea China
The country who has decided to cancel visa-free
entry for North Koreans due to National security
reasons from March 6, 2017 Malaysia
India has ranked among the 188 countries surveyed
for human development, according a new UN report
on March 21, 2017 131
The county to host 10th International Conference on
Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance
India
The cultural festival ‗India by the Nile‘ has started
in the country Egypt
Economy & Banking
The bank has launched an instant digital Loan
Against Securities (LAS) facility HDFC Bank
The bank has signed MoU with CREDAI to work
towards providing housing for all State Bank of
India
The Indian bank has launched a mobile banking app
‗Mera iMobile‘ for rural customers ICICI Bank
Bandhan Bank Limited has signed an agreement
with a payment solution provider in Kolkata India
Avenues India Private Limited
The Union government has swapped the Chief
Executive Officers (CEOs) of Indian Bank &
IDBI Bank
The Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) will be merged
with the country‘s largest lender State Bank of
India
The loan amount has been approved by the World
Bank for the National Hydrology Project of India $
175 Million
Who has launched an artificial intelligence-based
chatbot, Electronic Virtual Assistant (EVA) for
customer services in India? HDFC Bank
The bank is now the first bank in the country to
launch Aadhaar Pay IDFC Bank
The Public- Sector Bank (PSB) has launched ‗Work
from Home‘ facility for employees State Bank of
India
Who has been appointed the new Deputy Governor
in Reserve Bank of India (RBI)? BP Kanungo
The loan amount has been sanctioned by the World
Bank (WB) for the Tejaswini project $ 63 Million
The bank, who topped the list of banks that
witnessed the most number of frauds during April to
December period of 2016 ICICI Bank
According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI), penalty
will be imposed on banks, if they refuse to
exchange soiled or scribed currency notes from
people Rs 10000
The World Bank has announced an assistance
programme of over $ 1 billion in the areas of urban
transport and climate resilient agriculture over the
next 2-3 years in Maharashtra
The country‘s largest bank State Bank of India has
decided to reintroduce penalty on non-maintenance
of minimum balance in accounts from April 1,
2017
Science & Technology
Name the two countries which have signed two
long-term support agreements for the Sukhoi Su-30
MKI combat aircraft fleet India and Russia
The SRCC Global Millennium Summit 2017 has
started in the city Dubai
Indian delegation in the 2017 Permanent Indus
Commission (PIC) meeting PK Saxena
The world‘s oldest serving aircraft carrier in active
service will be decommissioned with a ceremonial
send-off in Mumbai INS-Viraat
The interceptor missile tracked the enemy‘s ballistic
missile and fired from Interim Test Range at
Chandipur in Odisha Prithvi
Who has successfully test-fired an anti-ship missile
from an indigenously built INS-Kalvari submarine
in Arabian sea Indian-Navy
GRAPES-3 Telescope upgrade to control Solar
Storms
The scientists have discovered a way to accurately
predict whether a child has autism spectrum
disorder by analysing Blood Sample
Five new sub-atomic particles discovered at CERN
using the Large Hadron Collider
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 7
India launched phase-out plan of the harmful
refrigerant HCFC
Sports
Who has won his third consecutive Brazil Open title
by beating Albert Ramos-Vinolas? Pablo Cuevas
(Uruguay)
Who has won the bronze in Asian 20km Race Walk
Championship? KT Irfan
Name the Indian sportsperson which has won silver
at 2017 Eden World Women Snooker
Championship Vidya Pillai
Who has won the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2017?
Tamil Nadu
Who has won the ATP Indian wells Masters title in
California (USA)? Roger Federer
The new brand ambassador for 2018 ODI Blind
Cricket World Cup) Shahid Afridi
Who has won the 2017 ATP Mexico Open hard
court tennis tournament? Sam Querrey
Who has lifted the men‘s singles crown at the All
England Open badminton championships? Lee
Chong Wei (Malaysia)
Who has became only the second Indian golfer to
successfully defend the Hero Indian Open title?
SSP Chawrasia
The country to host the 22nd
edition of Asian
Athletics Championship 2017 India
Teenage spinner of Bangladesh has won the
Debutant of the Year Award for his 19 wickets in
the 2 match Test series against England Mehedi
Hasan Miraj
Who has been named as the ‗Captain of the Year‘ at
the 10th annual ESPNcricinfo Awards? Virat Kohli
Who won the ‗Test Batting Performance of the
Year‘? Ben Stokes (England)
Indian shuttler duo has won the men‘s double title
at the 2017 Uganda International Series at MTN
Arena Lugogo, Kampala Tarun Kona/Alwin
Francis
Miscellaneous
Former director of the Indian Institute of Tropical
Meteorology (IITM) passed away at Pune Dev Raj
Sikka
A Nobel-prize winning poet, playwright, and
painter has passed away at his home in Cap Estate,
Saint Lucia Derek Alton Walcott
Who has awarded with 2017 Regeneron Science
Talent Search? Indrani Das
Indian personality has been selected to newly
formed United Nations (UN) group on anti-
microbial resistance Soumya Swaminathan. The
institution has topped the Times Higher Education
(THE)‘s Asia University ranking 2017 National
University of Singapore (NUS)
The author of the book ‗when Breath Becomes Air‘
Paul Kalanithi
Indian-American personality has won the National
Science Foundation‘s (NSF)‘s Career Award 2017
Anshumali
The author of the book ‗So You Want to Know
About the Environment‘ Bijal Vachharajani
The author of the book ‗The Sleepwalker‘s Dream :
A Novel‘ Dhrubajyoti Borah
Who has launched the world‘s first mobile app on
breast health? Amitabh Bachchan
Who has became the new Chief Minister of Uttar
Pradesh? Yogi Adityanath
Who has been appointed as the Chief Secretary of
Punjab? Karan Avtar Singh
Who took charge as the Acting Chief Justice of
Jammu and Kashmir High Court? Justice
Ramalingam Sudhakar
Who has been conferred with the 2017 Harvard
Humanitarian of the Year award? Robyn Rihanna
Fenty
The university who has won the annual Visitor‘s
Award for the ‗Best University 2017‘ Jawahalal
Nehru University (JNU)
Eminent Malayalam journalist and author will be
presented the 30th Moortidevi award by Bharatiya
Jnanpith organisation MP Veerendra Kumar
The book ‗The Wrong Turn : Love and Betrayal in
the Time of Netaji‘ has been authored by Sanjay
Chopra/Namita Roy Ghose
The author of the book ‗Mr. and Mrs. Jinnah: The
Marriage that Shook India‘? Sheela Reddy
Who has been conferred honorary degree of Doctor
of Science (DSc) by the city-based Maharashtra
Animal and Fishery Sciences University? Mohan
Bhagwat
Indian institute has won the 2017 IEEE Spectrum
Technology in the Service of Society Award IIT-
Madras
Who has been crowned the new Miss International
Queen 2016? Jiratchaya Sirimongkolnawin
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 8
Who has honored with the Harvard foundation
‗Artist of the Year 2017‘ award in Cambridge‘?
Viola Davis
Who has became the first Indian educational
institution to make it to the top 10 of a global
ranking for universities? Indian Institute of
Science (IISc), Bangalore
Latest in General Knowledge
Important Days
April 5: National Maritime Day
April 7: World Health Day
April 11: National Safe Motherhood Day
April 17: World Haemophilia
April 18: World Heritage Day
April 21: National Civil Services
April 22: Earth Day
April 23: World Books Day
April 24: Panchayat Raj Day
April 26: World Intellectual Property Day
Appointments
Donald Tusk re-elected as EU Council President:
European Union leaders voted overwhelmingly to
re-elect Mr. Donald Tusk president of the bloc on
March 9, 2017. Mr. Tusk‘s home country of Poland
was the only one of the 28 member states to vote
against his reappointment. Mr. Tusk will now serve
for another two-and-a-half-year term. Mr. Donald
Tusk has served as the President of the European
Council since his election in December 2014. He
was the Prime Minister of Poland between 2007 and
2014 before stepping down to take the top job at the
European Council.
Yogi Adityanath sworn in as 21st CM of UP: Five-time Parliamentarian and BJP's firebrand
leader Yogi Adityanath (44) was sworn in as the
21st Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Mr. Keshav
Prasad Maurya and Mr. Dinesh Sharma were sworn
in as Deputy Chief Ministers. They were
administered the oath to the office and secrecy by
State Governor Mr. Ram Naik at oath-taking
ceremony held in Lucknow, on March 19, 2017.
Besides them, 47-member Council of Ministers
consisting of 22 Cabinet Ministers, 9 Ministers of
State (MoS) with independent charge and 13
Ministers of State (MoS) also took oath.
Trivendra Singh Rawat sworn in as CM of
Uttarakhand: Former Uttarakhand BJP chief Mr.
Trivendra Singh Rawat (56) was sworn in as ninth
Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. He was
administered oath of office and secrecy by
Governor Mr. Krishan Kant Paul at the oath-taking
ceremony held at Parade Ground in Dehradun on
March 18, 2017. Besides, Mr. Rawat, seven Cabinet
Ministers and two Ministers of State (MoS) also
took oath.
N. Biren Singh takes over as CM of Manipur: The first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government
took office in Manipur on March 15, 2017. The
oath-taking ceremony took place at Raj Bhavan in
Imphal. Governor Ms. Najma Heptulla administered
the oath of office to CM Mr. N. Biren Singh (BJP)
and Deputy CM Mr. Y. Joykumar (NPP). Along
with them seven ministers were also sworn in.
Captain Amarinder Singh sworn in as 26th CM
of Punjab: Congress stalwart Captain Amarinder
Singh was sworn in as the 26th Chief Minister of
Punjab on March 16, 2017. Captain Amarinder
Singh and his nine-member Council of Ministers
were administered the oath of secrecy and
allegiance by Governor Mr. V.P. Singh Badnore at
a ceremony held at the Punjab Raj Bhavan in
Chandigarh.
Manohar Parrikar is the new CM of Goa: Former Defence Minister Mr. Manohar Parrikar
took oath as the Chief Minister of Goa for the fourth
time on March 14, 2017, after the BJP had a
coalition with two regional parties and some
Independent MLAs. Along with Mr. Parrikar,
Governor Ms. Mridula Sinha administered oath of
office to nine ministers at a ceremony.
J.S. Deepak appointed as India's WTO
Ambassador: Telecom Secretary Mr. J.S. Deepak
has been appointed as India's permanent
representative to World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Mr. Deepak will take over his new assignment from
June 1, 2017 and till then he will be Officer on
Special Duty (OSD) in the Department of
Commerce in the Ministry of Commerce and
Industries with immediate effect. Earlier, as
Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce,
Mr. Deepak, a 1982-batch IAS of UP cadre,
handled WTO and other international agencies.
Narendra Kumar appointed as new Chairman of
Central Water Commission: Union Government
appointed Mr. Narendra Kumar as the new
Chairman of the Central Water Commission
(CWC). Mr. Narendra Kumar is a Central Water
Engineering Service (CWES) officer of 1979 batch.
Prior to this appointment, he was member (river
management) of CWC since October 2014.
BOOKS AND AUTHORS
Borderlands: Travels Across India’s Boundaries
– By Pradeep Damodaran
Witness Kashmir 1986-2016 – Nine
photographers, Yaarbal
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 9
The Amazing Story of the Man who Cycled from
India to Europe for Love – By Per J Anderson,
One World
White Crane, Lend Men Your Wings: A Tibetan
Tale of Love and War – Tsewang Yishey Pemba,
Niyogi Books
Things to Leave Behind – By Namita Gokhale,
Penguin Random House
Thamel: Dark Star of Kathmandu – By Rabi
Thapa, Speaking Tiger
Defense
Indian Navy gets three naval systems from
DRDO: The Defence Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO) has handed over three naval
systems to the Indian Navy. These latest systems
will significantly enhance the navy's navigation and
communication network. The systems were handed
over to Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil
Lanba by Union Defence Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley
in New Delhi on March 24, 2017. The naval
systems given to Indian Navy are: USHUS-II
submarine sonar, Directing gear for hull-mounted
sonar array and Inertial navigation system for ship
applications.
India, Russia ink long-term support pact on
Sukhoi Su-30MKI: India and Russia have signed
two long-term support agreements for the Sukhoi
Su-30MKI combat aircraft fleet, covering around
57,000 spares and components related to the
aircraft. The agreements were signed by India's
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) with Russia's
United Aircraft Corporation and United Engine
Corporation at the first India-Russia Military
Industrial Conference held in New Delhi on March
17, 2017. These pacts provide for an upgraded
schedule for delivery of spares from Russia for Su-
30MKI, local manufacturing of parts and a
proposed logistics hub for the fighter jets in
Bengaluru (Karnataka) by HAL.
Indian Navy successfully test-fires Barak missile
from INS Vikramaditya: Indian Navy successfully
conducted maiden test of short-range surface-to-air
Barak missile from country's sole aircraft carrier
INS Vikramaditya. The test was conducted in the
Arabian Sea on March 25, 2017, in which missile
was fired against a live, low-flying, high-speed
target. The missile successfully engaged and
destroyed the target, validating operational
readiness inspection of the Western Fleet of the
Indian Navy. INS Vikramaditya is the country's sole
aircraft carrier (after decommissioning of INS
Viraat in March 2017). It was built in 1987 and had
served the Soviet Navy (named as Baku). It was
later renamed 'Admiral Gorshkov' under the
Russian Navy.
INS Tillanchang commissioned by Indian Navy: INS Tillanchang, a Water Jet Fast Attack Craft
(WJFAC) was commissioned into the Indian Navy
by Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, AVSM, VSM, the
Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval
Command, at Karwar on March 9, 2017. INS
Tillanchang is the third ship of four follow-on
WJFAC built by the Garden Reach Shipbuilders
and Engineers (GRSE) Kolkata. The first two ships
of the class, INS Tarmugli and Tihayu were
commissioned in 2016 and are based at
Visakhapatnam. The ship has been indigenously
designed and built and is an upgrade from the
Chetlat class of Fast Attack Craft that the Indian
Navy possesses.
Ecology & Environment
Earth Hour observed across the World: The
eleventh edition of the Earth Hour was observed
across the world on March 25, 2017 to take a global
call on climate change. To mark this day, cities
worldwide turned their lights off from 8:30 pm to
9:30 pm local time. This year millions of people
from 170 countries and territories took part in the
annual event in a bid to highlight global warming
caused by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas to
drive cars and power plants. Environmental activists
this year also have focused to raise awareness on
another problem that gets far less attention, i.e.,
Light Pollution.
Uttarakhand HC recognises Ganga and Yamuna
Rivers as living entities: The Uttarakhand High
Court has recognised the Ganga and the Yamuna
Rivers as so-called living entities. It is for the first
time any court in India has recognised a non-human
as a living entity. The two rivers are sacred for the
Hindus, sustain millions of people in the country
but have seen years of damage at the hands of
humans. The HC Division Bench comprising
Justice Mr. Alok Singh and justice Mr. Rajiv
Sharma gave a landmark judgment while hearing a
Public Interest Litigation. The Ganga and the
Yamuna, all their tributaries and streams are
declared by the Uttarakhand HC as legal persons
[or] living persons in order to protect the
recognition and the faith of society. They will have
the status of a legal person with all corresponding
rights, duties and liabilities of a living person in
order to preserve and conserve them.
Environment Ministry official to chair Animal
Welfare Board of India: The Union Government
has notified that Animal Welfare Board of India
(AWBI), a statutory advisory body under the
Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 10
Change (MoEFCC) will now be permanently
chaired by a senior MoEF official. Recently, a new
Board of 18 members, chaired by Mr. Sharad Singh
Negi, Special Secretary and Director-General
(Forests), MoEF came into effect -for three-year
term. Previously in AWBI's 55-year history, it was
always chaired by somebody outside government,
such as veterinarians, animal welfare activists or
retired judges. But in recent times due to differences
between AWBI and MoEFCC, especially on the
conduct of the Jallikattu, the Central Government
exerted its primacy in the management of the
organization.
Economic Scene
India ranks 87th on Energy Architecture
Performance Index: WEF: India ranked 87th
among the surveyed 127 countries on a Global
Energy Architecture Performance Index (EAPI)
released as part of report of Geneva-based World
Economic Forum (WEF). It has 18 indicators
defined across the three sides of the 'energy
triangle'—economic growth and development,
energy access and security and environmental
sustainability. As per the report, Top 5 Countries
are—Switzerland (1), Norway (2), Sweden (3),
Denmark (4) and France (5). India has marginally
improved its ranking in this edition from 90th rank
in 2016. India is gradually improving its
performance on the index, but faces an uphill battle
to increase energy access and security (95th)
indicators.
Cabinet approves of proposal to establish a Fund
of Funds for Start-ups: The Union Cabinet
approved proposals to tweak Fund of Funds of
Start-ups (FFS) rules to enable greater flow of
resources on March 22, 2017. FFS was established
in June 2016 with a corpus of Rs. 1,000 crore. As
per the proposals approved, Alternate Investment
Funds (AIFs) supported by FFS shall invest at least
twice the amount of contribution received from FFS
in Start-ups.
Further, if the amount committed for a Start-up in
whole has not been released before a Start-up ceases
to be so, the balance funding can continue
thereafter. The operating expenses for carrying out
due diligence, legal and technical appraisal,
convening meeting of Venture Capital Investment
Committee, etc. will be met out of the FFS.
Cabinet approves amendments to Customs and
Excise Acts to facilitate GST Regime: The Union
Cabinet has approved amendments to the Customs
and Excise Acts related to abolition of cesses and
surcharges on various goods and services to
facilitate implementation of GST Regime.
Decision in this regard was taken by The Union
Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Mr.
Narendra Modi, in New Delhi on March 22, 2017. It
has approved the proposals—Amendment to
Customs Act, 1962; Amendment to Central Excise
Act, 1944; Amendments to Customs Tariff Act,
1975; Repeal of Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985;
and Amendment/repeal of the provisions relating to
Acts under which cesses are levied. The
amendments or repealing of various provisions of
other Acts which in the GST regime will result in
cleansing of the irrelevant portions from the Statute
Book and reduce multiplicity of taxes.
SEBI to tighten algorithmic trading rules to
minimise instances of flash crashes: The
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is
planning to further, tighten the regulations for
algorithmic trading to minimise instances of misuse
of such systems. The tight regulations aim to curb
the instances of flash crashes that have happened
overseas and also in India few times. India is one of
the few countries in the world to regulate
algorithmic trading. Flash crash results in extremely
rapid decline in the price of one or more
commodities or securities caused by algorithmic
trading. It can result in the loss and recovery of
billions of dollars in a matter of minutes and
seconds.
Health & Fitness
HIV, Hepatitis combo drug norms eased: Aiming
to make new combination drugs for patients with
HIV or Hepatitis B & C available to them at the
earliest, the Union Government has decided to
waive some regulatory processes to fast-track
approvals. The country's top drug regulator said that
companies manufacturing combination drugs for
HIV and Hepatitis B & C could seek early approval
with a WHO recommendation, even if
internationally the medicines are not approved as a
combination but only individually. Over 21 lakh
people are estimated to be living with HIV in India
and a total of over 52 million people infected with
chronic hepatitis.
Apps, Social Media pushing back sleep time over
1.5 hours: A study by Bengaluru-based National
Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences
(NIMHANS) has revealed that the use of the
Internet for Facebook and WhatsApp is making
people put off sleep by more than one and a half
hours (100 minutes) every day. In a 2016 study by
the Service for Healthy Use of Technology (SHUT)
clinic at NIMHANS, researchers found that the
Internet use was also making people wake up 90
minutes later. The study, published in the Indian
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 11
Journal of Occupational and Environmental
Medicine, also found that while the quality of sleep
was above average, most people usually checked
their phones and tablets at least four times after
going to bed. The prescription by the doctors is to
shut off devices as one nears bedtime.
Honours & Awards
NATIONAL
Gallantry Awards: Hon‘ble President Mr. Pranab
Mukherjee presented the Gallantry Awards and
Distinguished Service Decorations at a Defence
Investiture Ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan in
New Delhi on March 20, 2017. The President
conferred 1 Kirti Chakra and 12 Shaurya Chakras to
Armed Forces Personnel. 6 Shaurya Chakras were
given posthumously. He also conferred 15 Param
Vishisht Seva Medals: 3 Uttam Yuddh Seva
Medals, 1 Bar to Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and 22
Ati Vishisht Seva Medals to senior officers of the
Armed Forces.
Dr. B.C. Roy Awards: Hon'ble President Mr.
Pranab Mukherjee presented Dr. B. C. Roy National
Awards for the years 2014, 2015 and 2016 and Hari
Om Ashram Alembic Research Awards for the
years 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016 at a
function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi
on March 28, 2017. Among the 49 awardees, as
many as 15 doctors were given the award for the
year 2014, 16 for 2015 and 18 for 2016.
2017 IEEE Spectrum Technology Award: Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT)-Madras won the 2017
IEEE Spectrum Technology in the Service of
Society Award for its solar-direct current (DC)
inverter system, on March 10, 2017. The system
was developed by Centre for Decentralised Power
Systems at IIT-M using micro grid technology. The
system converts in-home power distribution from
230V Analog Current (AC) to 48V DC to directly
power appliances and devices.
Nari Shakti Puraskar 2016: Hon'ble President Mr.
Pranab Mukherjee presented the Nari Shakti
Puraskar 2016 at a ceremony in New Delhi on the
occasion of International Women's Day on March 8,
2017. This year, the Selection Committee, chaired
by the Minister of Women & Child Development
Ms. Maneka Gandhi, unanimously agreed to
increase the number of Awards to 31 as more
nominees were found to be deserving and the age
criteria was also relaxed. Some of the awardees of
this year are scientists Ms. Anatta Sonney, Ms. B.
Codanayaguy and Ms. Subhu Varier, entrepreneurs
Ms. Reema Sathe and Ms. Zuboni Humtsoe,
trailblazer Ms. Mumtaz Kazi and many more.
Saraswati Samman 2016: Eminent Konkani writer
Mr. Mahabaleshwar Sail (74) was selected for the
prestigious Saraswati Samman 2016 on March 10,
2017, for his novel Hawthan. His novel was
shortlisted out of 22 books written in many
languages. He will receive cash prize of Rs 15 lakh
and a citation. Mr. Mahabaleshwar Sail is bilingual
writer based in Goa.
KCK International Award for excellence in Print
Journalism: Hon'ble President Mr. Pranab
Mukherjee presented the KCK International Award
for excellence in Print Journalism in New Delhi on
March 20, 2017. The award for the year 2014 was
conferred upon Mr. Wanjohi Kabukuru's team for
the story 'How East Africa Lost Its Innocence' that
was published in New African magazine, London.
The award for the year 2015 was conferred on Mr.
Rakesh Sharma and his team for an investigative
news series 'Sexual Harassment in Nari Niketan',
published in Amar Ujala.
1st Kuldeep Nayar Award: Mr. Ravish Kumar,
one of India's most respected journalists, has won
the first Kuldip Nayar Journalism Award in New
Delhi on March 19, 2017. Mr. Ravish is Senior
Executive Editor at NDTV India, Hindi TV news
channel of NDTV. The Kuldip Nayar Journalism
Award has been set up by the Gandhi Peace
Foundation. Mr. Ravish has won several prestigious
awards including the Ramnath Goenka Award.
6th National Photography Awards: Veteran
photographer Mr. Raghu Rai was conferred the
Lifetime Achievement Award at the 6th National
Photography Awards in New Delhi on March 22,
2017. The event was graced by Union Ministers Mr.
M. Venkaiah Naidu and Col. Rajyavardhan Singh
Rathore. Along with Mr. Rai, seven other
photographers were also awarded at the event.
Kala Ratna Award: Veteran actor Mr. Anupam
Kher was honoured with the Kala Ratna Award by
Vice-President Mr. M. Hamid Ansari at the 66th
Convocation of the Punjab University in
Chandigarh on March 25, 2017. Mr. Anupam Kher
has completed almost four decades in Bollywood
and worked in more than 400 films including
several Hindi Blockbusters, superhits, and
international films.
Zee Cine Awards 2017: Film Dangal won the
Viewer's Choice Best Film Award at Zee Cine
Awards 2017 on March 11, 2017. Salman Khan
won the Best Actor and Anushka Sharma was
named the Best Actress for their film Sultan based
on votes by viewers. Further, the song ‗Channa
Mereya...' from the film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil was
named the Viewer's Choice Song of the Year.
INTERNATIONAL
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 12
2017 Abel Prize: French mathematician Mr. Yves
Meyer won the prestigious 2017 Abel Prize on
March 21, 2017, for his pivotal role in the
development of the mathematical theory of wavelets
(small waves or ripples). His theory is used for
applications ranging from image compression to the
detection of gravitational waves from the merging
of black holes.
2017 Ellis Island Medal of Honour: PepsiCo CEO
Ms. Indra Nooyi and author Mr. Fareed Zakaria are
amongst six Indian-Americans nominated for the
prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honour 2017 on
March 25, 2017, the highest civilian award in the
US for immigrants. Among 88 named recipients,
the four other Indian- Americans are Harman
International Industries chairman CEO Mr. Dinesh
Paliwal, Dr. Annapoorna S. Kini, Mr. Yashvant
Patel, Mr. Mohan H. Patel, as well as Pakistani-
American Dr. Adil Haider.
Regeneron Science Talent Search competition: Indian-American teenager Ms. Indrani Das (17)
won the top prize the Regeneron Science Talent
Search competition in the US, on March 16, 2017.
She has won the award for her research on treating
brain injury and disease. Her research showed a
way for increasing the survival rate of neurons
affected by brain injury or neurodegenerative
disease.
Global Teacher Prize: A Canadian schoolteacher
whose teaching philosophy underscores hope and
acts of kindness in an isolated corner of Quebec has
won one of the most-coveted and high-profile
awards for teaching excellence. Ms. Maggie
MacDonnell was awarded the annual Global
Teacher Prize during a ceremony in Dubai, United
Arab Emirates on March 19, 2017. She beat out
thousands of applicants from around the world.
NSF's CAREER Award: An Indian-American
computer scientist, Mr. Anshumali Shrivastava, was
honoured with the National Science Foundation's
prestigious CAREER Award on March 20, 2017,
for his research on redesigning current machine-
learning processes. Mr. Shrivastava is currently
working as an assistant professor of Computer
Science at Rice University. Each year about 400
scholars receive the CAREER Award across all
disciplines to support the research and educational
development of young scholars likely to become
leaders in their fields.
Artist of the Year Award: Ms. Viola Davis, the
actress who took home some of this year's biggest
awards, was honoured with the Harvard Foundation
‗Artist of the Year' 2017 Award at Harvard's 32nd
Cultural Rhythms Festival in Cambridge on March
4, 2017. The award aims to honour America's most
acclaimed artists and scientists each year.
International Film Festival and Awards of
Australia (IFFAA): Bollywood Actress Aishwarya
Rai Bachchan won the best actress award at the
International Film Festival and Awards of Australia
(IFFAA) for her movie Sarabjit on March 8, 2017.
Directed by Omung Kumar, Sarabjit was the biopic
on Sarabjit Singh, an Indian farmer, who was
convicted of terrorism and spying in Pakistan and
was sentenced to death. Aishwarya played the role
of Sarabjit‘s sister Dalbir Kaur.
Miss International Queen 2016: Thailand's
Model, Ms. Jiratchaya Sirimongkolnawin was
crowned Miss International Queen 2016 on March
10, 2017 in the 12th edition of the beauty pageant
event in Pattaya City, Thailand. Miss International
Queen began in the year 2004 and has been held
annually in Pattaya City since then and is
considered the largest and the most popular
transgender pageant of the world.
Inventions & Discoveries
Arunachal teen develops goggles to help the
blind: A high school student in Arunachal Pradesh
has invented a unique pair of goggles that help the
visually impaired detect obstacles on their path.
Anang Tadar, a Class XI student from Nirjuli,
invented the gadget called Goggle for Blind (G4B).
The goggles could be used to detect any obstacles
on all sides within a distance of two metres. It is
made by using the principle of echolocation as used
by bats at night. There are two ultrasound sensors
on the left and right of the goggles to detect
obstacles. There is also an infrared sensor in the
middle of the gadget to detect obstacles in case both
the ultrasound sensors fail.
German scientists switch on the world's largest
artificial sun: Scientists from the German
Aerospace Centre (DLR) have switched on world's
largest artificial sun—a device developed to help
shed light on new ways of making climate-friendly
fuels. The artificial sun is giant honeycomb-like set-
up of 149 spotlights, officially known as Synlight. It
is located in Juelich. It uses xenon short-arc lamps
normally found in cinemas to simulate natural
sunlight. The aim of Synlight experiment is to
develop an optimal set-up for concentrating natural
sunlight to power a reaction to produce hydrogen
fuel. Its goal is to eventually use actual sunlight
rather than the artificial light produced using
electricity which is costly and requires as much
electricity in four hours as a four-person household
would use in a year.
Places
London: London recently came in news when five
people were killed and nearly 40 injured after an
ISIS-inspired attacker went on a deadly rampage in
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 13
the heart of Britain's seat of power on March 22,
2017. The knife-wielding man ploughed a car into
pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge before
stabbing a police officer to death inside the gates of
Parliament. The man was shot by police within the
perimeter of Parliament, just yards away from
entrances to the building. Three police officers,
several French teenagers on a school trip, two
Romanian tourists and five South Korean visitors
were among the injured. Parliament was locked
down for several hours, and the adjoining
Westminster subway station was shuttered.
Chenani-Nashri Road Tunnel, J&K: India's
longest surface tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir's
Udhampur district was recently in news after its
completion. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister
Mr. Narendra Modi on April 2, 2017, following
successful completion of trial runs for peak and off-
peak hours. The 9.28-km-long tunnel at Chenani
passes through the lower Himalayan mountain
range on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway. The
9.28-km-long twin-tube tunnel is located at an
elevation of 1,200 metres. The tunnel links Chenani
in Udhampur district with Nashri in Ramban district
in Jammu and Kashmir. It is an important part of a
286-km-long four-lane project on the highway. It is
India's first tunnel equipped with world class
integrated tunnel control system through which
ventilation, signals, fire control, communication and
electrical systems are automatically actuated. It
reduces travel distance between Jammu and
Srinagar by 30 kilometres and saves time by about
two hours.
Reports & Indexes
India ranks 131 in 2016 Human Development
Index: India was ranked 131 in the 2016 Human
Development Index (HDI) among the 188 countries.
India scored 0.624 and was placed in medium
human development category. The index was
unveiled recently as part of the Human
Development Report (HDR) 2016 titled 'Human
Development for Everyone' published by the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Top
three countries are—Norway (0.949 score),
Australia (0.939) and Switzerland (0.939). Among
SAARC countries, Sri Lanka (73) and Maldives
(105) were placed in "high human development"
category, followed by India (131), Bhutan (132),
Bangladesh (139), Nepal (144), Pakistan (147) and
Afghanistan (169). India's HDI value increased
from 0.428 in 1990 to 0.624 in 2015. However, its
average annual growth in HDI (1990-2015) was
higher than that of other medium HDI countries.
Space
NASA launches massive digital library for space
video, photos & audio: NASA unveiled a new
online library on March 28, 2017, that assembles
the agency's amazing space photos, videos and
audio files into a single searchable library. The
NASA Image and Video Library, as the agency
calls it, can be found at http://images.nasa.gov and
consolidates space imagery from 60 different
collections into one location. It allows users to
search, discover and download a treasure trove of
more than 140,000 NASA images, videos and audio
files from across the agency's many missions in
aeronautics, astrophysics, Earth science, human
spaceflight, and more. Users can browse the
agency's most recently uploaded files, as well as
discover historic and the most popularly searched
images, audio files and videos.
GRAPES-3 Telescope upgraded to detect solar
storms: The GRAPES-3 experiment at TIFR's (Tata
Institute of Fundamental Research) Cosmic Ray
Laboratory in Ootacamund in Tamil Nadu is getting
upgraded to detect solar storms.
GRAPES-3 (Gamma Ray Astronomy PeV Energies
phase-3) experiment had detected the effect of a
solar storm that hit the Earth in June 2015.
GRAPES-3 has an important role in understanding
the propagation of storms from the Ll point
(Lagrange point 1) to its impact on the Earth. The
upgraded detector will have an increased coverage
and improved capacity to determine the direction of
incident cosmic rays. It will play a major role in
getting precise information about the propagation of
storms in the last million miles (from the L-1 point)
of their journey from the Sun to the Earth.
4 ISRO teams join 36th Indian Scientific
Expedition to Antarctica: The National Centre for
Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), Ministry
of Earth Sciences organises the Indian Scientific
Mission to Antarctica every year and ISRO has
been participating for a long time. This year, in the
36th Indian scientific expedition, four teams from
ISRO [one from Space Applications Centre (SAC)
Ahmedabad, one from National Remote Sensing
Centre (NRSC) Hyderabad, one from Indian
Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) Dehradun and
one from Space Physics Laboratory (SPL) VSSC
Thiruvananthapuram] are participating. Climate
change is the thrust area of the 36th Indian
Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (36-ISEA). The
main objective of this expedition is to install stakes
on ice for Differential Global Positioning System
(DGPS) measurements around two Indian bases
Bharati and Maitri in Antarctica.
Software & Telecom
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 14
Vodafone, Idea Cellular Announce Merger: Britain's Vodafone Group will merge its Indian
subsidiary with local rival Idea Cellular within two
years, Idea said on March 20, 2017. Vodafone will
own 45.1 percent of the merged entity, after it
transfers about 4.9 percent to promoters of Idea
and/or their affiliates for Rs. 3,874 crore in cash.
Idea will have the sole right to appoint the
chairman. The confirmation ended months of
speculation that the two operators were ready to
sign a deal to help fend off Reliance Jio, whose
recent arrival has shaken up India's ultra-
competitive mobile network market.
New infrared based wi-fi system can make
internet 100-times faster: Scientists have
developed a new wireless internet based on
harmless infrared rays that is 100 times faster than
existing wi-fi network and has the capacity to
support more devices without getting congested.
The wireless network developed by researchers at
Eindhoven University of Technology in The
Netherlands not only has a huge capacity—more
than 40 Gigabits per second (Gbit/s)—but also there
is no need to share since every device gets its own
ray of light. The wireless data comes from a few
central 'light antennas', which are able to very
precisely direct the rays of light supplied by an
optical fibre.
MISCELLANY
Government launches Online Film Certification
System: The Union Information and Broadcasting
Ministry has launched the e-Cinepramaan, an online
film certification system of the Central Board of
Film Certification (CBFC). This initiative was
launched on the lines of Union Government's vision
of ease-of-doing business and digital India, to make
the entire process transparent and efficient. Its
objective is to eliminate the need for human
interface to the extent possible and enable good
governance by automating film certification
process. The system will show status of each
application online in the dashboard of the producer
and concerned CBFC official.
Integrated Automated Aviation Meteorological
System inaugurated at INS Rajali: Admiral Sunil
Lanba, Chief of the Naval Staff, inaugurated the
first-ever 'Integrated Automatic Aviation
Meteorological System (IAAMS)' at INS Rajali on
March 28, 2017. The IAAMS is an ambitious
project of the Indian Navy to modernise the
meteorological infrastructure of the nine Naval Air
Stations (NAS). INS Rajali at Arakkonam was
identified for setting up this sophisticated system on
a 'Test Bed' site, where the complete integrated
system has been tested for its reliability,
performance and functioning. The IAAMS project
will give a major fillip to aviation safety, through
automation of weather monitoring process.
NIO finds a new canyon system close to Kovvada
coast: Scientists of CSIR-National Institute of
Oceanography (NIO) in Visakhapatnam have found
three new canyons forming a major canyon system
in the depths of Bay of Bengal close to Kovvada in
Srikakulam district. The new canyon system is very
huge and probably formed by the river Kandivalasa.
The depth of the canyon varies from about 90
metres from the starting point to about 2,500 metres
at the deepest point, and it extends to about 50 to 70
km deep into the sea and the width varies from 50
metres to two km. As per the findings, the depth is
more than the Grand Canyon, which is about 1,857
metres.
Persons in News
Donald Tusk: Mr. Donald Tusk was re-elected as
the President of the European Council on March 9,
2017. In the 28-member European Union in its
meeting held at Brussels in Belgium, 27 leaders
elected Mr. Tusk for the second time as European
Council president, for a two-and-a-half-year term.
He was elected president of the Council for the first
time on December 1, 2014. Former Prime Minister
of Poland, Mr. Tusk's tenure of the first term as
European Council president ends on May 31, 2017.
Carrie Lam: Hong Kong got its first woman chief
executive with the election of Ms. Carrie Lam on
March 26, 2017. Beijing-backed Ms. Carrie Lam
won a triangular electoral contest to become the
first woman Chief Executive of Hong Kong amid
pro-democracy protests and unease about Beijing's
increasing influence on the financial hub. The
electoral affairs commission of Hong Kong SAR
declared that Ms. Lam garnered 777 of 1,163 valid
votes. In Hong Kong, a committee of 1,200 people
elects the chief.
Mukesh Ambani: The Reliance Industries Ltd.‘s
Chairman, Mr. Mukesh Ambani, has been ranked at
33rd position among the super-rich billionaires in
the world in 2017 as per the latest list released by
the `Forbes' on March 20, 2017. With a net worth of
$23.2 billion, Mr. Ambani leads the pack of 101
Indian billionaires also having been listed by the
Forbes in 2017. According to tilt report, Mr.
Ambani has made pioneering achievements at
global level in the sectors of oil and gas, and
telecommunications.
Bill Gates: The Microsoft co-founder and
philanthropist, Mr. Bill Gates, has been declared the
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 15
richest person in the world. In the latest list of
super-rich billionaires in the world, released by the
'Forbes' on March 20, 2017, Mr. Gates has topped
the list of the billionaires in the world. He has
topped the list for the fourth year in a row. He has
been the richest person in the world for 18 out of
the past 23 years. Mr. Gates has a fortune of $86
billion.
Dr. Soumya Swaminathan: The Director-General
of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR),
Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, was appointed as a
member in the global Interagency Co-ordination
Group on Antimicrobial Resistance by the United
Nations Secretary-General Mr. Antonio Guterres on
March 19, 2017. The objective of the group will be
to provide practical guidance for approaches needed
to ensure sustained effective global action to
address anti-microbial resistance.
Tanushree Pareek: A resident of Rajasthan, Ms.
Tanushree Pareek has become the first woman field
officer in the country's para-military force, the
Border Security Force (BSF). This is for the first
time in the 51-year history of the BSF that a woman
has been made a field officer in a combating
position. After the training she has been posted as
assistant commandant near the Indo-Pak border in
Punjab. Ms. Pareek was felicitated by the Union
Home Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh, on the occasion
on March 25, 2017.
Yogi Adityanath: The BJP leader and five-ti
Gorakhpur MP, Yogi Adityana- - was sworn in as
the new Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on March
19, 2017. He took the oath of office as the new
Chief Minister of the State at a ceremony at Smriti
Upvan in Lucknow. Prime Minister Mr. Narendra
Moth and BJP president Mr. Amit Shah along with
other senior leaders of the party, were present on the
occasion. Mr. Yogi is a B.Sc. in Maths.
Peggy Whitson: NASA astronaut Ms. Peggy
Whitson broke Indian-American Sunita Williams'
spacewalking record, as she made her eighth
spacewalk aboard the International Space Station
(ISS) on March 30, 2017. Ms. Williams had
previously made seven spacewalks totalling 50
hours and 40 minutes and held the record for most
spacewalks by a woman and most spacewalk time
for a woman. Ms. Whitson made eight spacewalks
with the total length of time being 53 hours and 22
minutes.
Cheteshwar Pujara: Indian batsman Cheteshwar
Pujara while playing in the third Test against
Australia scored 202 runs. He faced 525 balls,
maximum number of balls played by any Indian
batsman in a Test innings. He surpassed Mr. Rahul
Dravid‘s record of playing 495 balls for his
individual score of 270 runs. Mr. Dravid while
playing against Pakistan in 2004 had made the
record in an innings. Mr. Pujara now holds the
record for playing maximum number of balls by an
Indian in an innings in a Test match.
CURRENT TOPICS: INDIA
PM Modi Inaugurates Country’s Longest Road
Tunnel In J & K Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi inaugurated the
9.28-km Chenani-Nashri tunnel, the coutnry‘s
longest road tunnel linking Chenani in Udhampur
district with Nashri in Ramban district in Jammu
and Kashmir, on April 2, 2017. This all-weather
tunnel will reduce driving time between Jammu and
Srinagar by about two hours.
The tunnel is India‘s first and the world‘s sixth to
have ―transverse ventilation system‖, providing
fresh air to commuters plying on this stretch.
The total length of the newly built road, including
9.28-km tunnel carriageway, is about 10.89 km and
has a total of 29 cross passages, each at every 300
metres, for the convenience of all those driving
through the tunnel. Built at a project cost of Rs.
3,720 crore, between 2011 and 2017, by the
National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), the
tunnel has nine lay byes, for parking of vehicles.
Supreme Court Bans Sale, Registration Of BS-
III Vehicles The Supreme Court banned the sale and registration
of Bharat Stage (BS)-III emission norm-compliant
vehicles from April 1, 2017, when environment
friendly BS-IV emission norms came into force
across the country. The order came on March 30,
2017, after all vehicle manufacturers including their
association – Society of Indian Automobile
Manufactures (SIAM) – approached the SC to stop
the ban till existing stock is sold. The SC Bench
held that health of the citizens is more important
than the commercial interests of the automobile
industry. As per the SC orders, all the vehicle
registering authorities under the Motor Vehicles
Act, 1988 are prohibited from registering such
vehicles on and from April 1, 2017 that do not meet
BS-IV emission standards. Vehicles that have
already been sold on or before March 31, 2017 will
not be included in this ban.
Vehicle manufacturers have argued that they were
entitled to make BS-III vehicles till March 31, 2017.
So, the sale and registration of these vehicles should
not be prohibited after April 1, 2017 with the
introduction of BS-IV norms. They said that they
should further be given a reasonable time to dispose
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 16
of their existing stock which is as about 8,20,000
vehicles worth Rs. 12,000 crore, most of them two-
wheelers.
India, NDB Ink $350 Million Loan Pact India signed its first loan agreement with the New
Development Bank (NDB) on March 30, 2017, for
$350 million to be used in the development and
upgradation of district roads in Madhya Pradesh.
The objective of the project is to improve
connectivity of the interior areas of the State with
the national and State highway networks. The
project would include upgradation, rehabilitation or
reconstruction of approximately 1,500 km of district
roads to intermediate lane, all-weather standards,
with road safety features and improved road asset
maintenance and management. The project is to be
implemented over five years with the Madhya
Pradesh Government and the Madhya Pradesh Road
Development Corporation acting as the
implementing agencies.
The NDB is a multilateral bank created by BRICS
nations viz. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South
Africa. The goal of the bank is to fund infrastructure
projects in emerging economies for sustainable
development.
Cabinet Approves Commission For Socially And
Educationally Backward Classes The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of
National Commission for Socially and
Educationally Backward Classes (NCSEBC) as a
Constitutional body. The new panel will replace
National Commission for Backward Classes
(NCBC) that looks into inclusion or exclusion of
Other Backward Castes for quotas, among other
issues. Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi chaired a
Cabinet meeting on March 22, 2017 and approved
amending the Constitution and inserting Article
338B for setting up the new Commission. The new
Commission will have a chairperson, a vice
chairperson and three other members. By making
the new panel a constitutional body, the advice of
the panel shall ordinarily be binding upon the
Centre. The cabinet‘s decision comes in the wake of
the ongoing demand by the Jat community for their
inclusion in the list of Backward Classes. The
frequent demands were also raised in Parliament for
grant of constitutional status to the NCBC so that it
could hear the grievances of OBCs on the lines of
the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and
National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.
Government Approves 101 Cold Chain Projects
To Boost Food Processing Sector The Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries
(FPI) sanctioned 101 new integrated cold chain
projects across the country on March 27, 2017.
These projects will leverage a total investment of
Rs. 3,100 crore for creation of modern
infrastructure for the food processing sector. Of the
101 new projects 53 projects are for fruits and
vegetables, 33 for dairy and remaining are for fish,
meat, marine, poultry, ready-to-ear/ready-to-cook
sectors.
Union Cabinet Approves The National Health
Policy 2017 The Union Cabinet approved the National Health
Policy 2017 on March 15, 2017, after having
deferred it twice before. The last health policy was
issued 15 years ago in 2002. Aiming to provide
health care in an ―assured manner‖ to all, the policy
will strive to address current and emerging
challenges arising from the ever-changing
socioeconomic, technological and epidemiological
scenarios.
The policy aims to allocate major proportion of
resources to primary care and intends to ensure
availability of two beds per 1,000 population
distributed in a manner to enable access within
golden hour (the first hour after traumatic injury,
when the victim is most likely to benefit from
emergency treatment). In addition, the policy
proposes free drugs, free diagnostics and free
emergency and essential health care services in all
public hospitals in a bid to provide access and
financial protection.
3rd
G20 Framework Working Group Meeting
Held In Varanasi The third edition of G20 Framework Working
Group (FWG) meeting was held in Varanasi, Uttar
Pradesh on March 28 and 29, 2017. The meeting
took place under the G20 German presidency, and
was co-hosted by the Union Finance Ministry and
the Reserve Bank of India. It was inaugurated by
Mr. Shaktikanta Das, Economic Affairs Secretary.
Mr. Dinesh Sharma, Special Secretary in the
Finance Ministry was head of the programme. The
two-day meeting held discussions on the current
global conjecture as well as deliberations on the
policy options that countries can pursue to counter
the challenges. It also deliberated on the inclusive
growth agenda of G20 and formulated a framework
that will enable countries to help frame country
specific inclusive growth policies. The high-profile
meeting was attended by around 100 financial and
economic policy bureaucrats from around 19
countries of G20. Officials from the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, OECD, ILO,
UNCTAD, European Central Bank, European
Commission, Financial Stability Board and Asian
Development Bank also participated in the FWG.
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 17
India Signs WHO’s Call To End TB By 2030 In
South East Asian Region India along with other countries in the South East
Asian Region have signed World Health
Organisation‘s (WHO) Call To End Tuberculosis
(TB) by 2030 in the region. It was signed by Health
Ministers from countries in WHO South-East Asia
Region (WHO SEARO) during two-day ministerial
meeting towards ending TB in the region held in
New Delhi from March 15 to 16, 2017. The Call To
End TB by 2030 initiative also stresses the
increasing government and partner budgetary
allocations to enable national TB plans to be fully
funded.
WHO‘s South-East Asia Region comprises Bhutan,
Bangladesh, South Korea, India, Indonesia,
Myanmar, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand
and Timor-Leste. The region bears half of the
global tuberculosis burden. Six of the region‘s
countries – Bangladesh, South Korea, India,
Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand – are among the
30 high TB burden nations globally. In 2015, 4.74
million new TB cases were reported in the region
and nearly 8,00,000 deaths were reported. India
represents the single highest number of TB cases in
the world reporting 2.8 million new TB cases
annually and nearly half a million deaths due to the
disease.
Cabinet Approves Amendment To RTE Act,
2009 The Union Cabinet approved the amendment to
Right of children to Free and Compulsory
Education (RTE) Act, 2009 on March 22, 2017. The
amendment seeks to ensure that all teachers, in
position as on March 31, 2015, acquire minimum
qualifications prescribed by academic authority to
extend period for such training for 4 years up to
March 31, 2019. The amendment will enable the in-
service untrained elementary teachers to complete
their training and ensure that all teachers at the
elementary level have a certain minimum standard
of qualifications. It will ensure that all teachers
attain minimum qualifications as considered
necessary to maintain the standard of teaching
quality. However, several State governments have
reported that 11 lakh teachers at the elementary
level are still untrained out of a total number of
66.41 lakh teachers.
India’s Contribution To UN Increases To Rs. 244
Crore In 2015-16 India‘s contribution to the United Nations rose 55%
to Rs 244 crore in 2015-16 compared with the
previous fiscal, the Union Government has said.
The country contributed Rs 244 crore to the UN last
fiscal compared with Rs 157 crore in 2014-15.
Each UN member is required to contribute to the
organisation‘s Regular and Peacekeeping budgets.
These obligatory contributions are calculated based
on a member‘s relative capacity to pay.
This is defined through a scale of assessment that
takes into account the member country‘s Gross
National Income relative to the Global Gross
National Income, adjusted further for the level of its
national external debt and low per capital income.
Babri Masjid-Ram Mandir Dispute Should Be
Resolved Outside Court: SC The issue of Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhoomi
disputed site once again became the centre of
discussions and debates after the Supreme Court on
March 21, 2017 asked Hindus and Muslims to sit
and resolve the dispute. The apex court observed
that the issue of Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhoomi
disputed site is attached to sentiments and should be
settled out of the court. A Bench of Chief Justice
Mr. J.S. Khehar observed that the religious issues
can be solved through negotiations and suggested
that the CJI was ready to take up the task of
mediation to arrive at its amicable settlement. The
apex court also offered to act as mediator, which
was welcomed by the BJP but ruled out by the
Babri Masjid Action Committee and others.
Reacting on the development, BJP leader Mr.
Subramanian Swamy reiterated that the Ram temple
should be built at Ramjanmabhoomi, while All
India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM)
leader Mr. Asaduddin Owaisi urged the Supreme
Court to deliver the judgment.
CURRENT TOPICS: WORLD
British PM Theresa May Signs Historic Letter
To Launch Brexit Britain‘s exit from the European Union entered the
last lap with Prime Minister Ms. Theresa May
signing the Article 50 notification letter on March
29, 2017, which will officially begin the UK‘s exit
from the 28-member club, ending a 44-year
relationship. The move comes nine months after the
divisive Brexit referendum. Ms. May‘s letter was
hand-delivered to European Council President Mr.
Donald Tusk by the British Ambassador to the EU,
Sir Tim Barrow, in Brussels, Belgium. Article 50 of
the Lisbon Treaty that was invoked with the sign
provides both the sides a time limit of two years to
reach an agreement. Unless both sides agree to
extend the deadline for talks, Britain will leave EU
in March 2019. Article 50 refers to the formal
procedure by which an EU member state notifies
the European Council that it intends to leave the
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 18
bloc. In a sign that Ms. May wants to foster
goodwill in the talks, she wrote in the letter to
European Council President Mr. Donald Tusk that
she knew there would be consequences from Brexit
and Britain would lose influence over the rules that
govern the European economy.
India, US, Britain, France Boycott UN
Conference On Banning Nuclear Weapons India did not participate in the first UN conference
in more than 20 years on global nuclear weapons
ban, which opened in New York on March 27,
2017, amid objections from major nuclear powers.
More than 120 nations in October 2016 voted on a
UN General Assembly resolution to convene the
conference to negotiate a legally binding treaty to
prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their
total eliminations. Britain, France, Israel, Russia
and the US voted no, while China, India and
Pakistan abstained from voting on that resolution.
It had said that international verification was
essential to the global elimination of nuclear
weapons. India feels that the current process does
not include the verification aspect. In line with its
position that India articulated in the EoV, India
decided not to participate in the conference. It will,
however, continue to follow the developments in
the event.
US Senate Votes To Approve Montenegro As
NATO’s 29th
Member The US Senate voted overwhelmingly to approve
Montenegro as NATO‘s 29th member on March 28,
2017, a move backed by President Mr. Donald
Trump while seen as a rebuke to Russia‘
intervention in Eastern Europe. After a procedural
vote earlier, the accession treaty for the small
Balkan nation to join the trans-Atlantic alliance
sailed through on a 97-2 vote. The measure now
goes to the White House for President Mr. Trump‘s
formal ratification. To date, 25 other NATO
members have ratified Montenegro‘s accession, a
country of 6,20,000 people seen as a geostrategic
ally. The Netherlands and Spain have yet to do so.
Senate Democrat Mr. Chris Murphy said on the
Senate floor before the vote that he was convinced
that the alliance between the two nations would be
stronger if Montenegro joined, noting that the
country, once a part of Yugoslavia, occupies an
incredibly important space on the world map. The
Kremlin is opposed to Montenegro‘s accession,
calling it a provocation that would reinforce the pro-
Western military alliance‘s presence in the Balkans.
UK, US Ban Laptop, Tablet In Cabin On Flights
From Many Countries The UK imposed a ban on carrying laptops as part
of cabin baggage on Britain-bound passenger flights
from six Muslim-majority countries on March 21,
2017, hours after the US introduced a similar move
citing terrorism concerns. The ban will cover
around 14 airlines that operate direct flights from
Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi
Arabia. As per British government, direct flights to
the UK from these destinations can continue to
operate to the UK subject to new measures being in
place. The UK restrictions also apply to tablets,
DVD players and phones over certain size. Under
the new arrangements, passengers boarding flights
to the UK from the countries affected will not be
allowed to take any phones, laptops or tablets larger
than a normal sized mobile or smartphone into the
cabin of the plane. Any such devices will need to be
placed into hold luggage and checked-in before
going through central security. As per the British
government, the additional security measures may
cause some disruption for passengers and flights,
but the safety and security of the travelling public is
their highest priority.
Donald Tusk Re-elected As EU Council
President European Union leaders voted overwhelmingly to
re-elect Mr. Donald Tusk president of the bloc on
March 9, 2017, Mr. Tusk‘s home country, Poland
was the only one of the 28 member states to vote
against his reappointment. Mr. Tusk will now serve
for another two-and-a-half-years. Mr. Donald Tusk
has served as the President of the European Council
since his election in December 2014. He was the
Prime Minister of Poland between 2007 and 2014
before stepping down to take the top job at the
European Council. Although his two-and-a-half-
year term is nearing its end, the Polish politician
was allowed to run for one more term in Brussels.
Despite its anger, however, Poland was left isolated
as other countries including traditional central
European allies lined up to back Mr. Tusk, a
popular choice to guide the EU through difficult
Brexit talks and tense debates on migration. In the
past, the Polish government has accused Mr. Tusk
of using his EU position to interfere in domestic
politics and blamed him for siding with Brussels
against Warsaw in a simmering row over the rule of
law in Poland. Following his success, Mr. Tusk
acknowledged the ―unusual circumstances‖ of his
reappointment but promised to work with all EU
leaders without exceptions as he is truly devoted to
a united Europe.
Military Wins In Donald Trump’s Budget,
Diplomacy, Foreign Aid Lose Big US President Mr. Donald Trump presented his first
budget proposal to the Congress on March 15, 2017.
Mr. Trump‘s new $1.15 trillion budget would
reshape America‘s government with the broad,
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 19
conservative strokes he promised as a candidate,
ordering generous increases for the military and
slashing domestic programmes. The President‘s
initial budget proposal would boost defence
spending by $54 billion, the largest increase since
former US President Mr. Ronald Reagan‘s military
buildup of the 1980s.
President Mr. Trump‘s proposed 28 percent budget
cut for US diplomacy and foreign aid next year
would preserve $3.1 billion in security aid to Israel
but reduce funding for the United Nations, climate
change and cultural exchange programmes. Mr.
Trump proposed a combined $25.6 billion budget
for the State Department and USAID, a 28 percent
reduction from current spending. The budget also
proposes $12 billion in Overseas Contingency
Operations, funding for extraordinary costs, chiefly
in war zones such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
The United States would cut its contribution to the
UN budget by an unspecified amount, and the US
government would not pay for more than 25 percent
of UN peacekeeping costs, the proposal said.
India, With 101 Billionaires, At Fourth Place In
2017 In Forbes List Of Super-rich Persons India is a home to the world‘s fourth highest
number of billionaires, according to the latest list of
super-rich persons, released by the Forbes magazine
on March 20, 2017. The USA continues to have
maximum number of billionaires, with a record 565,
up from 540 a year ago. China is fast catching up
with 319, Germany has the third most with 114.
India has 101 billionaires, with Reliance Industries
chief Mr. Mukesh Ambani leading the super-rich
Indians. It is the first time that India has crossed the
100-mark.
The Forbes list of the ‗World‘s Billionaires 2017‘
consists of 2,043 of the richest people in the world,
who have a combined net worth of $7.67 trillion, a
record 18% increase over the past year. Mr. Mukesh
Ambani leads the pack of Indian billionaires,
coming at 33rd
position with a net worth of $23.2
billion. His younger brother Mr. Anil Ambani is
ranked 745th with a net worth of $2.7 billion.
The list of super-rich persons has been topped by
Microsoft co-founder Mr. Bill Gates for the fourth
year in a row. He has been the richest person in the
world for 18 out of the past 23 years. Mr. Gates has
a fortune of $86 billion, up from $75 billion last
year, followed by Berkshire Hathaway chief Mr.
Warren Buffett with a net worth of $75.6 billion.
Amazon‘s Mr. Jeff Bezos added $27.6 billion, now
worth $72.8 billion. He moved in to the top three in
the world for the first time, up from number five a
year ago. US President Mr. Donald Trump is ranked
544th on the list with his net worth of $3.5 billion.
According to Forbes, Facebook founder Mr. Mark
Zuckerberg moved up to number five for the first
time, after his fortune rose by $11.4 billion to $56
billion in 12 months. There are nearly 20 people of
Indian-origin, who have made fortunes in various
nations across the nations, led by the UK-based
Hinduja brothers ranked 64th with $15.4 billion net
worth. On the list of Indian billionaires, after Mr.
Mukesh Ambani comes ArcelorMittal Chairman
and CEO Mr. Lakshmi Mittal with a net worth of
$16.4 billion at 56th spot. Other Indians in the list
are Wipro Chairman Mr. Azim Premji (72 rank),
Adani Group founder Mr. Gautam Adani (250),
Bajaj Group Chairman Mr. Rahul Bajaj (544),
investor Mr. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala (939), Infosys
co-founder Mr. N.R. Narayana Murthy (1161). The
list includes only four women billionaires from
India, led by Savitri Jindal and her family at the
303rd
position with a net worth of $5.2 billion.
UN Appoints David Beasley To Head World
Food Programme United Nations General Secretary Mr. Antonio
Guterres appointed Mr. David Beasley as head of
the Rome-based World Food Programme (WFP) on
March 29, 2017, at a special session at WFP‘s
Rome headquarters. Mr. Beasley, Chair of the
Center for Global Strategies, was Governor of the
State of South Carolina in United States from 1995
to 1999. He won a seat in the South Carolina House
of Representatives at the age of 21 while still at
university. He succeeds Ms. Ertharin Cousin as
Executive Director as her five-year term was till
April 4, 2017.
The WEF is the food-assistance branch of the
United Nations. It is the world‘s largest
humanitarian organization addressing hunger and
promoting food security. It works to help people
who cannot produce or obtain enough food for
themselves and their families.
Donald Trump, Angela Merkel Try To Sidestep
Differences In First Meeting The first face-to-face meeting between US President
Mr. Donald Trump and German Chancellor Ms.
Angela Merkel started awkwardly in the White
House on March 18, 2017, and ended even more
oddly. The two leaders shared different views on
trade, Russia and immigration, leading to some
uncomfortable moments at a joint news conference
in which they took pains to downplay differences
that were hard to mask. The meeting was the first
between the new US President and the long serving
stateswoman, who leads Europe‘s largest economy.
US President Mr. Donald Trump pressed Ms.
Angela Merkel for Germany to meet NATO‘s
military spending target and Ms. Merkel reiterated
her country‘s commitment to the 2 percent military
spending goal, He said that many nations owed vast
sums of money to NATO from past years, and these
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 20
nations must pay what they owe, pointing indirectly
to Germany.
China, Pakistan To Boost Military Cooperation;
Produce Missiles, Aircraft In a move that would come as a major cause of
concern for India, China is set to take its weapon
exchanges with ‗all-weather-ally‘ Pakistan a step
further. According to a report by China‘s state-run
Global Times the country can ‗authorise‘ the latter
to produce ballistic, cruise, anti-craft and anti-ship
missiles, and battle tanks. It includes the mass
production of FC-1 Xiaolong, a lightweight and
multi-role combat aircraft developed jointly by the
two counties. These developments are an outcome
of a meeting between Pakistan‘s army chief Mr.
Qamar Bajwa and a top Chinese military official,
Mr. Fang Fenhui, which took place on March 15,
2017.
India has been expressing concerns to China and
Pakistan over the China Pakistan Economic
Corridor (CPEC) passing through sovereign Indian
territory. India‘s objection is mainly based over the
fact that the CPEC project, key to Beijing‘s
ambitious ‗One-Belt, One-Road‘ initiative, passes
through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir which New
Delhi considers as its integral part.
IORA Leaders Summit Held In Jakarta The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Leaders
Summit was held in Jakarta, capital of Indonesia
from March 5 to 7, 2017. The theme of the summit
was ‗Strengthening Maritime Cooperation for a
Peaceful, Stable and Prosperous Indian Ocean‘. It
was attended by leaders from 21 member states of
IORA. From India, Vice-President Mr. Hamid
Ansari attended the two-day summit. IORA 2017
drew attention on issues of regional interest such as
maritime security, disaster relief and humanitarian
assistance, fisheries management, people-to-people
exchanges, trade and investment and tourism. 21
member states issued a strategic vision document
known as the Jakarta Concord which sets out a
vision strengthening the regional architecture to
face its challenges. It also issued Joint Declaration
of the IORA Business Community to build
partnership for a sustainable and equitable
economic growth. It also adopted IORA Action
Plan, a document containing the implementation
actions of the Jakarta Concord to strengthen the
implementation of priority areas and cross-sectorial
commitments. The Declaration on Preventing and
Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism was
also adopted, stating importance of countering
terrorism. The member nations stressed the need to
work together in order to eliminate the growth and
spread of terrorism and violent extremism.
Norway Becomes World’s Happiest Country In
2017 In the latest World Happiness Report 2017, released
by the United Nations to mark the International Day
of Happiness on March 20, 2017, Norway edged
past previous year‘s champion Denmark, which fell
to second rank. Iceland, Switzerland and Finland
bagged third, fourth and fifth places, respectively.
India ranked 122nd
(four notches below its previous
rank of 118), behind Pakistan and poorest-of-poor
Nepal in the global list of the happiest countries,
according to the global report. India was behind the
majority of South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) nations, apart from war-
ravaged Afghanistan, that stood at 141. Among the
eight SAARC nations, Pakistan was at 80th position,
Nepal stood at 99, Bhutan at 97, Bangladesh at 110
while Sri Lanka was at 120. However, Maldives did
not figure in the World Happiness Report.
India, Russia Sign Long-Term Support Pact On
Sukhoi Su-30MKI India and Russia signed two long-term support
agreements for the Sukhoi Su-30MKI combat
aircraft fleet on March 17, 2017, which is the
mainstay of the Indian Air Force (IAF). Pacts were
also signed for maintenance and life-cycle support
for other Russian-origin platforms, such as Mi-17
helicopters, MiG-29K aircraft, INS Vikramaditya
and T-90 tanks. The agreements were signed by
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) with United
Aircraft Corporation and United Engine
Corporation. The pacts provide for an upgraded
schedule for delivery of spares from Russia for
these jets, local manufacturing of parts and a
proposed logistics hub for the fighter jets in
Bengaluru by HAL.
Commonwealth Launches ‘Peace In The Home’
Programme To Stamp Out Domestic Violence The Commonwealth of Nations launched ‗Peace in
the Home‘ programme on March 8, 2017, to help
member states tackle domestic violence which still
remains a stubborn stain on communities,
disproportionately impacting women. The
programme was launched on the occasion of
Women‘s Day on March 8, 2017 and will continue
till 2018, when there is expected to be an accord on
ending domestic violence in the Commonwealth.
The programme will build a coalition of
governments, businesses, human rights institutions,
civil society and individual citizens to choral our
efforts to address domestic violence. It will include
tool-kits to help government across Commonwealth
involve multiple agencies such as schools, hospitals
and doctors as well as government and law
enforcement agencies to work together effectively.
It will help countries highlight and share details of
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 21
initiatives that had been particularly successful in
dealing with domestic violence.
Latest in Sports
ARCHERY
Asia Cup Archery Stage-I Meet: India claimed a
Gold and a Silver in the Asia Cup Archery Stage I
meet that concluded in Bangkok, Thailand on
March 25, 2017. The Indian men's compound team
of Aman Saini, Shivansh Awasthi and Robert Singh
Keithellakpam, who qualified third with a score of
20.68, scraped past Iran 231-230 in the final to
claim Gold.
The women's recurve trio of Sakshi Rajendra
Shitole, Promila Daimary and Ankita Bhakat had to
be satisfied with Silver after going down 0-6 to
Chinese Taipei in the final. Earlier, they had beaten
Iran 6-2 in the quarterfinal after getting a bye in the
first round by virtue of qualifying second in the 12-
team competition. They then thrashed Malaysia 6-0
to make it to the final
ATHLETICS
IPC International Athletics Grand Prix: Indian
para athletes did the country proud by claiming 13
medals in the season opening Fazaa IPC
International Athletics Grand Prix at the Dubai Club
Stadium in Dubai. The medals include five Gold,
three of which were won by Sundar Singh Gurjar.
He added a third Gold medal in the Shot Put event
T 44-46 category with a throw of 13.36m. The women athletes also added to the Indian Gold
medals tally with a Gold-Silver finish in the
women's wheelchair Shot Put F-55 category.
Karamjyoti claimed the Gold with 5.76m followed
by Shatabdti Awasthi claiming the Silver a mere 5
centimetres behind. High jumpers Sharad Kumar
and Girisha H. Nagarajgowda gave India the Silver
and Bronze in the F13/20/42/44 category with leaps
of 1.66m and 1.63m respectively
BADMINTON
Swiss Open 2017: China's Lin Dan won the men's
singles tide of the Swiss Open 2017 outclassing
compatriot Shi Yuqi of China by 21-12, 21-11 on
March 19, 2017. In the women's singles, Chen
Xiaoxin of China defeated her countrymate Chen
Yufei by 21-19, 21-14.
Indian Open 2017: Rio Olympic Silver medallist
P.V. Sindhu of India clinched the women's singles
title of the Indian Open 2017. In the final, Sindhu
defeated Olympic and World Champion Carolina
Marin of Spain 21-19, 21-16 in New Delhi on April
2, 2017. This was the second Super Series title for
Sindhu to go with the China Open in November
2016.
In the men's singles final, Viktor Axelsen of
Denmark defeated Chou Tien Chen of Taipei 21-13,
21-10.
All England Open: World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of
Malaysia won the coveted All England Open men's
singles trophy for the fourth time in his career after
defeating Chinese Shi Yuqi in the tournament's final
match by 21-12, 21-10 in Birmingham on March
12, 2017.
Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei won the All
England Open women's singles, defeating
Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 21-16, 22-20.
Women's Doubles: Danish pair of Kamilla Rytter
Juhl and Christinna Pedersen defeated South
Korean pair of Chang Ye Na and Lee So Hee 21-18,
21-13.
Men's Doubles: The Indonesian pair of Marcus
Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo
bagged their first men's doubles title, defeating
Chinese pair of Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen 21-19,
21-14.
BILLIARDS & SNOOKER
Women World Snooker Championship: Vidya
Pillai of India produced a spirited performance
before settling for a Silver in the Women World
Snooker Championship in Singapore. Vidya
reached final on March 19, 2017 and was all set to
clinch the Gold with a lead of 4-2 but unfortunately
couple of unforced errors gave hold to Hong Kong's
best bet and former World Champion, Ng On Yee,
who won the next three frames in a row to take 5-4
lead.
BOXING
World Middleweight Championship: Gennady
Golovkin of Kazakhstan, the most fearsome
knockout artist of this era, was pushed to the limit
by Daniel Jacobs of USA before retaining his World
middleweight title by decision at Madison Square
Garden in New York, USA, on March 18, 2017.
Jacobs, known as "Miracle Man" since coming back
from bone cancer five years ago, ended the
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 22
unbeaten Golovkin's streak of 23 knockouts in a
row in a battle that went to the scorecards for the
first time since 2008 for the Kazakh champion.
Special Olympics World Winter Games: India
finished its campaign at the Special Olympics
World Winter Games in Austria with a total of 73
medals, which included 37 Gold, 10 Silver and 26
Bronze medals. The quadrennial event, which saw
over 100 countries take part, was held from March
14 to 25, 2017, with Indian athletes finishing with
an impressive medal haul. The Special Olympics
Bharat (SOB) ranked in Gold medals from three
team events: floor hockey, unified floorball and
traditional floorball. During the last edition of the
event, in Pyongchang, South Korea, India had
secured a total of 46 medals.
CRICKET PLUS
India-Australia Test Series: Team India clinched
the four-match Test Series against Australia 2-1
which is considered the hard-fought bilateral contest
in recent times.
In the fourth and final Test at Dharmshala on the
fourth day on March 28, 2017, India defeated
Australia convincingly by eight wickets. Needing
87 runs on the fourth day to reach a modest victory
target of 106, opener Lokesh Rahul (51 not out)
dominated from the start with a flurry of boundaries
and finished with six half-centuries in the series.
India were in trouble in the beginning, losing
Murali Vijay (8) and Cheteshwar Pujara (0).
However, stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane (38 n.o.)
and Rahul added 60 runs for a third wicket
partnership which took the team to victory in 23.5
overs.
Australia had scored 300 in their first innings and
could just make 137 in their second innings. India
scored 332 in their first innings.
Earlier, Australia had humbled India by a big
margin of 333 runs in the first Test at Pune while
India won the second Test by 75 runs at Bengaluru.
In the third Test played in Ranchi, Australia
displayed grit and managed to draw the Test.
Ravindra Jadeja, who scored 127 runs and took 25
wickets in the series, won the Man of Match and
Man of the Series awards.
With this series win, India regained the Border-
Gavaskar Trophy. India also retained the ICC Test
Championship Mace and won a cash award of $ one
million for holding on to the top position in the Test
Team rankings on the annual April 1 cut-off date. It
was India's seventh Test series win in a row—
continuing the dominance that started in 2015 with
Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies, New Zealand,
England and Bangladesh being annihilated.
Deodhar Trophy: Tamil Nadu lifted the Deodhar
Trophy after defeating India Red by 42 runs in the
limited overs cricket tournament final in
Visakhapatnam on March 29, 2017. This is the
second major title-trumph for Tamil Nadu after
winning the Vijay Hazare Trophy recently.
Chasing 304 to win, India Red were all out for 261
in 46.1 overs. In the Tamil Nadu's big score, Dinesh
Karthik played a major role by scoring 126 and ably
supported by N. Jagadeesan (55) and B. Indrajith
(31). Tamil Nadu are the only State team to have
won all the five major trophies—Ranji, Irani Cup,
Vijay Hazare, Deodhar and Syed Mushtaq Ali
Twenty20—in Indian cricket.
Cheteshwar Pujara Plays India's Longest
Innings: Cheteshwar Pujara broke Rahul Dravid's
long-standing record of longest Test innings by an
Indian in terms of balls played during the third Test
in Ranchi on March 19, 2017. Pujara beautifully
constructed his innings to play a total of 525 balls
and score 202 runs on the day 4 of the India vs
Australia 3rd Test match played in New Delhi.
Dravid had achieved the feat after playing 495 balls
on his way to 270 runs against Pakistan in 2004.
The Saurashtra-born batsman's ability to stitch
innings together and get the team out amid pressure
situations have got the cricketing fraternity draw
similarities between him and 'The Wall' Dravid.
While Pujara now holds the Indian record for
playing most deliveries in a Test innings, Sir
Leonard Hutton of England holds the record overall
having played 847 balls against Australia in 1938.
Tamil Nadu Lifts Vijay Hazare Trophy: Tamil
Nadu claimed the Vijay Hazare Trophy for the fifth
time with a 37-run win over. Bengal at the Feroz
Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi on March 20,
2017. Tamil Nadu, who had last won the premier
domestic one-day tournament in 2009-10, had
shared the title with Uttar Pradesh in 2004-05.
Powered by Dinesh Karthik's determined century,
Tamil Nadu set the opposition a 218-run target even
as the Ashoke Dinda-led attack put-up a disciplined
performance to keep the line-up in check.
Chasing Tamil Nadu's not-too-intimidating 217,
Bengal started too cautiously, lost two wickets in
the-fifth over, and was always behind the asking
rate. Facing a disciplined bowling in keeping with
the field, Bengal could never break free and were all
out for 180.
Sri Lanka - Bangladesh Test Series: The two-
match Test series between Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh were drawn 1-1. In the second and final
Test at Colombo, which ended on March 19, 2017,
Bangladesh pulled off a historic four-wicket win
over Sri Lanka. The rare win for Bangladesh—just
their fourth away from home and first against Sri
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 23
Lanka in 18 attempts—ended the two-Test series in
a draw. Bangladesh had lost the first Test by 259
runs in Galle.
Chasing a target of 191, teenage batsman Mehedi
Hasan hit the winning run after an anxious half hour
in the final session on the fifth day, getting
Bangladesh across the line in 57.5 overs.
Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh was adjudged the
Man of the Series.
FOOTBALL
Santosh Trophy 2017: West Bengal lifted the
Santosh Trophy for the 32nd time, after Manvir
Singh struck in the 119th minute for a 1-0 win over
Goa, displaying their domination in the premier
domestic football tournament. After playing out a
goalless 90 minutes, Manvir finally came good in
the dying moments of extra time to leave the home
crowd shocked at the GMC Stadium in Panaji on
March 26, 2017. West Bengal ended a six-year wait
having last won the title in 2011. Goa last won it in
2009.
MOTOR RACING
Australian Grand Prix: Mercedes' driver
Sebastian Vettel of Germany out-manoeuvred
Lewis Hamilton of UK and the world champion
Mercedes team with a stunning victory in the
season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix
in Melbourne on March 26, 2017. Vettel won by
almost 10 seconds from Hamilton and Mercedes
team-mate Valtteri Bottas in a commanding victory
of tactics and speed around the Albert Street
Circuit.
SHOOTING
ISSF Shotgun World Cup: Ankur Mittal of India
won the World Cup double trap Gold in ISSF
Shotgun, with a world-record equalling score, in
Acapulco, Mexico on March 22, 2017. In the
ensuing six-man 80-target final round, Mittal
missed a total of five targets, including just two in
his last 40 to equal the world record and finish on
top with a score of 75. Australian James Willet
managed 73 to claim the Silver, while Ying Qui of
China took the Bronze with 52, before being
eliminated after 60 targets.
TENNIS
Miami Open 2017: Roger Federer of Switzerland
defeated his long-time rival Rafael Nadal of Spain
in the Miami Open men's singles final 6-3, 6-4 in
Miami on April 2, 2017. It was Federer's third title
at Miami Open. This victory was Federer's 91st
career title and 26th Masters 1000 crown.
Johanna Konta of Britain clinched the women's
singles title defeating Caroline Wozniacki of
Denmark 6-4, 6-3. It was first elite WTA premier
mandatory event victory for Konta. It was also the
biggest title won by a British woman in 40 years.
Indian Wells Masters 2017: Roger Federer of
Switzerland beat his country-mate Stanislas
Wawrinka 6-4, 7-5 in the Indian Wells Masters final
at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 19,
2017. The 35-year-old has won the tournament for a
remarkable fifth time, drawing level with Novak
Djokovic of Serbia, becoming the oldest winner of a
Masters 1000 event.
Elena Vesnina of Russia defeated compatriot
Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-7, 7-5, 6-4 to win the
women's singles title at the Indian Wells Masters
final.
Static GK Capsules
Indian History
Under whose guidance was the Congress policy of
pray and petition ultimately come to an end? Lala
Lajpat Rai
Which script of ancient India was written from right
to left? Kharoshti
At where an example of Chola architecture can be
seen? Tanjore
Which treated as artificial currency? SDR
Which queen enjoyed political power along with
her husband? Noor Jahan
Most of the people of the Middle East belong to
which group of people? Mediterranean
Crusade for human rights is associated with which
name? Jimmy Carter
Between which the famous Battle of Takkolam in
South India was fought? Cholas and Rashtrakutas
Which music composer was deaf? Beethoven
Which naturally occulting element in the rice husk
makes it termite resistant? Silicon
If you scored cannon, which game would you be
playing? Billiards
In which island of India is an active volcano found?
Barren Island
Which Sultan founded a town where now stands
Agra? Sikander Lodi
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 24
When did the battle, which is the story of
Mahabharata most probably take place? Around
1000 BC
Of which treaty was the third Carnatic War ended?
Treaty of Paris
Who was the Sikh Guru to be slaughtered by
Aurangzeb? Teg Bahadur
Where is the expression of earliest volcanic activity
in India found? Dalmia Hill
Who was known as ‗Andhra Bhoja‘? Krishnadev
Raya
Where did the Indian National Army (INA) come
into existence? Singapore
With which period do we associate the ‗microlith‘
implements? Mesolithic
When is International Talk like a ‗Pirate Day‘ is
observed? September 19
Which is the largest river in the world? Amazon
Who is the head of the National Defence
Committee? Home Minister
Which was the first woman Governor of a State in
free India? Sarojini Naidu
Geography (India and World)
The river Cauvery flows from Karnataka to Tamil
Nadu
In which direction of flow of steam is controlled by
rock structure? Consequent
Which part of the Earth‘s surface receives the
highest amount of insolation? Tropical Deserts
Which region has Mediterranean type of climate?
Cape Town Region (South Africa)
Which is the highest waterfall of the world? Saito
Angel Falls
In which country is Barail range located? India
Who was known as Tuti-e-Hindustan (the parrot of
India)? Amir Khusrao
On which date the Earth is at the least distance from
the Sun (Perihelion)? January 3
The heavier silicates named ‗Sima‘ or
silica+magnesium are most abundant in which
layer? Crust
By which amendment has the National Capital
Territory of Delhi been constituted? 69th
Amendment
Which environment support the growth of
Mangrove Swamp? Tidal Flat
Equatorial forest of the Amazon basin is known as
by which name? Selvas
Thick stems and thorny wax coated leaves are
commonly found in which area? Deserts
Which is the State having the largest population of
Scheduled Castes? Uttar Pradesh
Which is considered to cause an adverse of effect
on Indian monsoon? El-nino
Which region does not receives much rainfall in the
South-West monsoon season? Tamil Nadu Coast
In order of their distances from the Sun, which
planet lie between Mars and Uranus? Jupiter and
Saturn
Which layer of the Earth is believed to have the
heaviest mineral materials of highest density?
Central Core
Kandla situated on the Gulf of Kachchh is well
known for which purpose? Export Processing
Zone
The mapping of which part of Earth is most
difficult? Interior of the Earth
Indian Polity
Who was the first General-Secretary of the Indian
National Congress? Dadabhai Naoroji
The first census was conducted in India at the time
of which Governor General? Lord Mayo
Which is the unit of activity of a radioactive source?
Becquerel
Which is the only Union Territory that has a High
Court of its own? Delhi
What is the task of the Planning Commission?
Preparation of the Plan
When is International Holocaust Remembrance
Day, recognised by the UN observed? January 27
Which bank gives long-term loan to farmers? Land
Development Bank
By whom is the Governor appointed? President
During the proclamation of National articles can not
be suspended? Article-20 and 21
Who signs on Rs 1 currency notes? Finance
Secretary
Which was the first woman filmstar nominated to
the Rajya Sabha? Nargis Dutt
Which State in India has the broadest continental
shelf? Gujarat
Anglo-Indian representatives in the Lok Sabha are
nominated in terms of which Article? Article-331
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 25
The United Nations declared 2004 as International
Year of Rice
In a sitar wire, which type of vibration is produced?
Stationery Transverse
Who is the author of the concept of Antyodaya?
Vinoba Bhave
The author of the controversial book ‗Lajja‘ is a
citizen of which country? Bangladesh
General Science
Photosynthesis proceeds in which sequence? Light
Phase and Dark Phase
Blue litmus paper is converted into red in solution
of which thing? Acid
Which is the phase that invades but does not destroy
the lost? Temperate Phase
For which is the northern blot technique used for
the detection? RNA
Which is used extensively for genetic engineering
in plant? Agrobacterium tumefaciens
What is the selectively permeable membrane of the
cell? Plasmalemma
Optic fibres are mainly used for which purpose?
Communication
Respiration can occur in the absence of oxygen in
which thing? Yeast
Nitrogen fixing bacteria is useful in growing which
crop? Legume
By whom was first successful vaccine against virul
disease of small pox discovered? Edward Jenner
Which effect shows particle nature of height?
Photoelectric Effect
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) consists of mainly
which gases? Methane, Butane and Propane
Which part of cinchona plant yields quinine? Bark
Which cytoplasmic organelles are treated as
prokaryotic cells within the eukaryotic cells?
Glyoxysomes
When milk is churned, how does the cream separate
from it? Due to the Centrifugal Force
Who firstly demonstrated experimentally the
existence of electromagnetic wave? Hertz
Heating pyrites in air to remove sulphur is called
Roasting
What is reduction of oxide with carbon at high
temperature called? Smelting
The conversion of chemical energy into electrical
energy occurs in which thing? Battery
Purification of petroleum is carried out by which
method? Fractional Distillation
Which technique can be used to establish the
paternity of a child? Quantitative Analysis of
DNA
Malaria parasite and Amoeba are grouped under
Protozoa
Kirchhoff‘s Voltage Law is based on the law of
conservation of which thing? Energy
By which impact is Nuclear fission is caused?
Neutron
Which is purest form of iron? Wrought lron
Which is used as a coolant in nuclear reactors?
Liquid Sodium
Meghnad Saha is known for his contribution in
which field? Physics
Medicines are more effective in which state?
Colloidal State
Which is the compound in that oxygen shows+2
oxidation state? F2 O
What number of essential amino acid is found in
man? 202
Between which set of blood groups, is the blood
transfusion possible? A and AB
By which, is the amount of light entering into the
eye controlled? lris
Spots
‗Chinaman‘ refers to which game? Cricket
Wood used in making cricket bats, is got from Salix
alba/ S. purpurea
Who is called the Flying Sikh of India? Milkha
Singh
With which game is the Double Fault associated?
Football
Which cricketer has scored the highest total runs in
test cricket? Sachin Tendulkar
In 1930. Which country hosted the first
Commonwealth Games? Canada
Machael Ferreira is associated with which game?
Snooker
Against which team did Virendra Sehwag make his
one day international debut? Pakistan
Sushil Kumar is known for his outstanding
performance in Wrestling
Who was the first Test centurion in Indian cricket?
Lala Amarnath
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 26
In which sports, Rajyavardhan Rathore won a silver
medal in the Beijing Olympics? Shooting
Who has became the first Indian to score a triple
century in Tests? Virendra Sehwag
Which person won seven gold medals in swimming
for the USA in the 1972 Olympic? Mark Spitz
Miscellaneous
Who is known as the ‗Saint of the Gutters‘?
Mother Teresa
Which is the oldest development financial
institution of India? IFCI
Which are manuals of instruction in the form of
brief rules? Sutras
Which day is celebrated as United Nations Day
every year? October 24
Dr. Hargobind Khurana received the Nobel Prize
for Medicine
Who won a Nobel Prize for literature, when he was
the head of the government? Sir Winston
Churchill
Who produced the first Film in India ‗Raja
Harishchandra‘ in 1913? Dadasaheb Phalke
Which country has the highest agricultural
production in Europe? France
Who is the author of the book ‗A Brief History of
Time‘? Stephen Hawking
What is the number of Puranas? 18
January 23 is celebrated as the birthday of which
person? Subhash Chandra Bose
Which was the gas which had leaked out of Union
Carbide factory in Bhopal? Methyl Isocynate
Current Affairs MCQs
1. Which system of firing is used by the US
developed electromagnetic rail gun?
(a) Purse firing (b) Pulse firing
(c) Shell firing (d) Rapid firing
2. Which INS fired the Barak missile on March 22,
2017?
(a) INS-Vikramaditya (b) INS-Shardul
(c) INS-Kaveri (d) None of these
3. Which regulator for modern medicine is National
Medical Commission set to replace?
(a) Medical Council of India
(b) Central Council of Indian Medicine
(c) Central Council of Ayurveda
(d) Central Council of Unani Medicine
4. India has became the third largest aviation market
beating which country?
(a) The USA (b) China
(c) Japan (d) The UK
5. How many chromosomes do people with Down‘s
Syndrome have?
(a) 45 (b) 46
(c) 47 (d) 48
6. Who organized the World Conference on
Environment on March 25, 2017?
(a) NGT (b) MoEF
(c) WWF (d) PETA
7. Who is Hong Kong‘s first female Chief executive
w.e.f. March 26, 2017?
(a) Park Gyuen Hye (b) Caroline Lam
(c) Carrie Lam (d) None of these
8. NASA will launch a balloon-based observatory
called GUSTO, which stands for?
(a) Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic
Terahertz Observatory
(b) Galactic/Extragalactic UNDB Spectroscopic
Terahertz Observatory
(c) Galactic/Extragalactic UMDB Spectroscopic
Terahertz Observatory
(d) Galactic/Extragalactic UCDB Spectroscopic
Terahertz Observatory
9. What was the theme of the 23rd Conference of
Auditors General of Commonwealth Countries and
British Overseas Territories?
(a) Fostering Partnerships for Capacity
Development
(b) Fostering Partnerships for Capacity
Development in Public Audit
(c) Fostering Partnerships for Capacity
Development in Private Audit
(d) None of the above
10. Where was the 5th edition of the Rashtriya
Sanskriti Mahotsav 2017 held?
(a) Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh)
(b) Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh)
(c) Dimapur (Nagaland)
(d) Dispur (Assam)
11. Where was the third edition of the International
Conference on Alternate Fuels and Raw Materials
in the Cement Industry held?
(a) New Delhi (b) New Bombay
(c) Kolkata (d) Chennai
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 27
12. Who has won the Kuldip Nayar journalism prize
on March 26, 2017?
(a) Ravish Kumar (b) Barkha Dutt
(c) Rajdeep Sardesai (d) Prannoy Roy
13. The CCEA approved North-East Road Network
Connectivity Project covers which States?
(a) Meghalaya and Mizoram
(b) Mizoram and Manipur
(c) Manipur and Meghalaya
(d) Meghalaya and Assam
14. Who has been awarded the Ellis Island Medal of
Honour 2017?
(a) Indra Nooyi (b) Farid Zakaria
(c) Yashvant Patel (d) All of these
15. What does the ant-EU British UKIP party stand
for?
(a) United Kingdom Independence Party
(b) United Kingdom Initiative Party
(c) United Kingdom Initiative Policy
(d) None of the above
16. Where is the National War Memorial being set-
up?
(a) New Delhi (b) Kochi
(c) Mumbai (d) Kolkata
17. Which of the following is the apex policy
making body for indirect taxes?
(a) CBEC (b) CBAC
(c) CBUC (d) CBIC
18. What is this year‘s theme of World TB day on
March 24, 2017?
(a) Unite to End TB (b) Meet to End TB
(c) Join to End TB (d) Work to End TB
19. Which well known photojournalist was
honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award by
I&B Ministry?
(a) Raghu Rai (b) Altaf Qadri
(c) Rajan Devadas (d) Dilip Mehta
20. Who has been awarded the Abel Prize 2017 by
Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters?
(a) John Nash (b) Yves Meyer
(c) Andrew Wiles (d) Jacob Sinai
21. Which of the following are provisions of the
Finance Bill 2017?
(a) Aadhaar card mandatory for filing income tax
returns.
(b) Aadhaar card to be made compulsory for
applying for PAN.
(c) Cash transition limit to be Rs 2 lakh
(d) All of the above
22. Who has been sworn-in as the Kerala CJI?
(a) Justice Navanithi Prasad Singh
(b) Justice Bobde
(c) Justice CP Thakur
(d) None of the above
23. Which Bill aims at equal rights while seeking
treatment, education and job by HIV positive
people?
(a) HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Bill
2014
(b) HIV Prevention and Control Bill 2014
(c) AIDS Prevention and Control Bill 2014
(d) None of the above
24. Which of the Rockerfeller family served in the
US army?
(a) David Rockerfeller (b) John D. Rockerfeller III
(c) Laurence Rockerfeller (d) None of the above
25. Which river became the first in the world to get
same legal rights as a human being?
(a) River Amazon (b) River Ganges
(c) River Whanganui (d) River Nile
26. With which country did India hold a military
industrial conference?
(a) Russia (b) The USA
(c) The UK (d) Germany
27. The Union for textiles has announced a solar
energy scheme for which units from April 1, 2017?
(a) Solar Energy Scheme for Small Powerloom
Units
(b) Solar Energy Scheme for Medium Powerloom
Units
(c) Solar Energy for large Powerloom Units
(d) None of the above
28. Which province has its own law to regulate the
marriage of Hindus in Pakistan?
(a) Khyber Pakhtunwala (b) Sindh
(c) Peshawar (d) None of the above
29. Agricultural growth has risen to what value in
2017?
(a) 3% (b) 4%
(c) 5% (d) 6%
30. India and which country has signed a long term
agreement for Sukhoi Su-30 MKI combat aircraft
fleet?
(a) Russia (b) Siberia
(c) Tanzania (d) None of these
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 28
31. World Bank Group approved $ 210 million loan
for strengthening gram panchayats in which State?
(a) West Bengal (b) Bihar
(c) Jharkhand (d) None of these
32. Who has been named as the new Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister on March 18, 2017?
(a) Yogi Adityanath (b) Sakshi Maharaj
(c) Keshav Prasad Maurya (d) Manoj Sinha
33. What was the theme of 13th
Economic
Cooperation Organisation Summit held in
Islamabad?
(a) Listening to Regional Voices
(b) Connectivity for Regional Prosperity
(c) Connectivity for Regional Profitability
(d) None of the above
34. Which city in South India has achieved 100%
waste segregation?
(a) Tirunelveli (b) Trivandrum
(c) Tuticorin (d) None of these
35. Which is the world‘s oldest aircraft carrier in
active service?
(a) INS-Shardul (b) INS-kaveri
(c) INS-Viraat (d) INS-Vikrant
36. IT major Symantec released an automated
solution to counter which cloud bug?
(a) Cloudburst (b) Cloudbleed
(c) Cloudbust (d) None of these
37. Amrita University TBI and CCSN have set-up
India‘s first startup hub for?
(a) Cybersecurity (b) Online operations
(c) e-Commerce (d) Mobile banking
38. What is Udan?
(a) Civil aviation/regional connectivity scheme
(b) Defence procurement scheme
(c) IAF scheme
(d) None of the above
39. Which playback singer set a new world record
playing most songs on the Gayathri veena?
(a) Vaikon Vijaylakshmi (b) Kavita Krishnamurthy
(c) Sunidhi Chauhan (d) Alka Yagnik
40. Where is Bhagoria festival held?
(a) Jhabua (b) Dhar
(c) Chambal (d) Both (a) and (b)
41. The scientists have developed a new brain
computer interface to read people‘s thoughts and
correct robotic errors relying on?
(a) Error related potentials
(b) Brain signals that occur automatically
(c) Both of the above
(d) None of the above
42. Which country has the highest bribery rate in
the Asia Pacific region?
(a) Japan (b) China
(c) Pakistan (d) India
43. Which country is developing stealth military
drones to evade ant-aircraft weapons?
(a) China (b) Japan
(c) North Korea (d) None of these
44. ICC has appointed whom as the official
ambassador of the Women‘s Cricket World Cup
2017?
(a) Sachin Tendulkar (b) Anil Kumble
(c) Sunil Gavaskar (d) Rahul Dravid
45. Which bank has signed a loan agreement with
EESL for energy efficiency in India?
(a) World Development Bank
(b) Asian Development Bank
(c) German Development Bank
(d) Japan Development Bank
46. Which country barred Turkey‘s Foreign
Minister?
(a) The Netherlands (b) Denmark
(c) Finland (d) Hungary
47. Eminent Konkani writer Mahabaleshwar Sail
has been honoured for which work?
(a) Hawthan (b) Pelthandcho Manis
(c) Kali Ganga (d) None of these
48. The Ministry of Railways signed a letter of
intent with the UNEP programe for?
(a) Environmental cooperation
(b) Joint cooperation mechanism in the field of
environment and sustainability
(c) Both of the above
(d) None of the above
49. Indian researchers have found molecular
evidence of the presence of which species more
than 25000 years ago?
(a) Ostrich (b) Eagle
(c) Kite (d) Peacock
50. Punjab Agricultural University has developed
the country‘s first GM variety of cotton namely?
(a) PUB Bt1 (b) F1861
(c) Both of these (d) None of these
51. Who won the Best Male Actor award at the Zee
Cine Awards 2017?
(a) Amitabh Bachchan (b) Aamir Khan
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 29
(c) Salman Khan (d) Rishi Kapoor
52. ‗World Kidney Day 2017‘ was observed with
the theme
(a) Kidney Disease and Obesity: Healthy Lifestyle
for Healthy Kidneys
(b) Chronic Kidney Disease and Aging
(c) Kidney Health for All
(d) Kidney Disease and Children. Act Early to
Prevent It!
53. Senior officials from Bhutan and which Indian
State will work on the happiness model?
(a) Madhya Pradesh (b) Chhattisgarh
(c) Jharkhand (d) Bihar
54. Who has been appointed as the Chief Minister
of Goa following 2017 State elections?
(a) Manohar Parrikar (b) Laxmikant Parsekar
(c) Sudin Dhavalikar (d) None of these
55. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been
appointed as the Defence Minister in Modi
government for
(a) fourth time (b) Third time
(c) second time (d) fifth time
56. Who has been appointed as the Group Chairman
of HSBC?
(a) Mark Tucker (b) Simon Tucker
(c) Stuart Gulliver (d) None of these
57. The US chipmaker Intel is to buy which Israeli
firm?
(a) Mobileye (b) Mobilquick
(c) Mobilex (d) None of these
58. What is Mission Fingerling for?
(a) Holistic development and management of
fisheries
(b) Initiating Blue Revolution
(c) Both of the above
(d) None of the above
59. Tata Sons has appointed whom to join its
holding company?
(a) Ankur Verma (b) Ankur Mehta
(c) Ankur Sharma (d) None of these
60. LS passed the Enemy Property (Amendment
and Validation) Bill 2016 for
(a) Denial of inheritance rights for heirs whose
ancestors left India for Pakistan
(b) denial of inheritance rights for heirs whose
ancestor left India for China
(c) Both of the above
(d) None of the above
61. Narendra Kumar was appointed as the new
Chairman of
(a) CWC (b) BMC
(c) NDMC (d) MCD
62. AIADMK announced which first of a kind
women safety app in Tamil Nadu?
(a) Ammavin Jagran (b) Ammavin Aran
(c) Ammavin Sharan (d) None of these
63. Where was the first fluorescent frog in the world
discovered?
(a) Santa Monica (b) Santa Ana
(c) Santa Barbara (d) Santa Fe
64. Pakistan has suspended which cricketers in a
spot fixing case?
(a) Mohammad Irfan (b) Shazaib Hassan
(c) Zulfiqar Babar (d) All of these
65. Commonwealth Day 2017 was celebrated on
which date?
(a) March 12 (b) March 14
(c) March 13 (d) March 15
66. NTPC has installed India‘s largest floating solar
photo voltaic plant at
(a) Kayamkulam (Kerala)
(b) Medak (Andhra (Pradesh)
(c) Thrissur (Kerala)
(d) Salem (Tamil Nadu)
67. Joanna Rowsell Shand is an Olympic winner
associated with which sports?
(a) Cycling (b) Swimming
(c) Weightlifting (d) Discus throw
68. MoU in shipping was approved by the Union
Cabinet on March 15, 2017 with
(a) Bangladesh (b) Pakistan
(c) Nepal (d) Sri Lanka
69. Who has been sworn in as Manipur Chief
Minister?
(a) Okram Ibobi Singh
(b) Biren Singh
(c) Yumnan Joykumar Singh
(d) None of the above
70. Who has been appointed as the administrator for
medicare and medicaid services in the USA?
(a) Seema Verma (b) Nikki Haley
(c) Sunita Williams (d) Priti Patel
71. Pakistan is planning to declare which region as
its 5th province?
(a) Khyber Pakhtunwala (b) Gilgit Baltistan
(c) Northern Area (d) Both (b) and (c)
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 30
72. Which Asian vendor become the first platinum
member of Open Stack Foundation?
(a) Xiaomi (b) Honor
(c) Huawei (d) Baidu
73. Clean Ganga mission saw 20 more projects
launched in which States?
(a) Uttarakhand (b) Uttar Pradesh
(c) Bihar (d) All of these
74. The SEBI allowed celebs to endorse which
products?
(a) Stocks and shares (b) Mutual funds
(c) Dividends (d) Insurance
75. Who has been sworn-in as the 26th Chief
Minister of Punjab?
(a) G. Badal (b) Capt Amarinder Singh
(c) Navjot Singh Sidhu (d) None of the above
76. FITII and Canon signed an MoU to promote
(a) film education (b) film funding
(c) film production (d) None of these
77. What does TIES stand for?
(a) Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme
(b) Trade Investment for Export Scheme
(c) Trade India for Export Scheme
(d) None of the above
78. The Union Cabinet March 15, 2017 approved
MoU for border haats with which country?
(a) Bangladesh (b) Burma
(c) Bhutan (d) Borneo
79. Which singer turned Union Minister has been
appointed as the Vice-President of U-17 FIFA
World Cup committee?
(a) Babul Supriyo (b) Hema Malini
(c) Lata Mangeshkar (d) None of these
80. Royal assent has given to Brexit Bill to trigger
which Article of the EU Lisbon Treaty?
(a) Article-50 (b) Article-51
(c) Article-52 (d) Article-53
81. The students of MIT-Pune and IBM have
developed which robot to assist senior citizens in
everyday tasks?
(a) Chintu (b) Mintu
(c) Chintan (d) None of these
82. What will be the impact of World Bank
approving $ 175 for India‘s Hydrology Project?
(a) Strengthening the capacity of existing
institutions to assess the water situation
(b) Equipping them with real time flood forecast
systems across the nation
(c) Helping new states to better manage water flows
from reservoirs
(d) All of the above
83. The Union Cabinet on March 15, 2017 approved
the National Health Policy for
(a) increasing public healthcare expenditure to 2.5%
of GDP
(b) allocation of more than two-thirds of the
resources towards primary healthcare
(c) Both of the above
(d) None of the above
84. Where is Asia‘s first greenfield training facility
being set-up?
(a) Pakistan (b) India
(c) Sri Lanka (d) Bangladesh
85. Parliamentary panel has suggested merger of
which two PSU firms for their long term survival?
(a) MNTL, SAIL (b) BSNL, SAIL
(c) MTNL, BSNL (d) None of these
86. BJP has picked Trivendra Singh Rawat as the
new Chief Minister of
(a) Manipur (b) Goa
(c) Uttar Pradesh (d) Uttarakhand
87. Bandhan Bank has signed an agreement with
which payment solutions provider to offer seamless
access to PoS?
(a) Avenues India Private Limited
(b) Paytm
(c) BillDesk
(d) DirecPay
88. Who has became the Chairperson of the
National Commission for Safai Karamcharis?
(a) Manhar Valji (b) Manju Diler
(c) Dalip Kallu Hathibed (d) None of these
89. The Union Cabinet has approved an MoU
between LBSNAA and
(a) Namibia Institute of Public Administration and
Management
(b) Namibia Institute of Management and Public
Administration
(c) Namibia Institute of Management
(d) Namibia Institute of Public Administration
90. NITI Aayog will start a process to make States
prepare WMI. What does WMI stand for?
(a) Water Management Index
(b) Water Maximum Index
(c) Water Mineral Index
(d) None of the above
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 31
91. Modi government has initiated which prison
reform?
(a) Migrating to e-prisons, a software to integrate
prison, data across the nation
(b) Attempt at long pending prison reforms
(c) Release of under trials booked for petty crimes
(d) All of the above
92. Which Coal Ministry outfit has been tasked with
grading and notifying Coal India Limited mines?
(a) Coal Controller‘s Organization
(b) Coal Controller‘s Association
(c) Coal Controller‘s Agency
(d) None of these
93. North Korea has conducted a new test of a high
thrust rocket engine at which site?
(a) Sohae (b) Kaesong
(c) Hamhung (d) Pyongyang
94. The RBI will create polymer-based currency
notes of which denomination?
(a) Rs 5 (b) Rs 10
(c) Rs 20 (d) Rs 25
95. India and which country has signed a long term
agreement for Sukhoi Su-30 MKI combat aircraft
fleet?
(a) Russia (b) Siberia
(c) Tanzania (d) None of these
96. World Bank Group approved $ 210 million loan
for strengthening gram panchayats in which State?
(a) West Bengal (b) Bihar
(c) Jharkhand (d) None of these
97. The scientists have discovered a new wireless
internet based on
(a) Harmless infrared rays (b) X-rays
(c) UV rays (d) Gamma rays
98. Which University Institute has entered into an
agreement with Indian Railways?
(a) Monash (b) Macquerie
(c) Canberra (d) Adelaide
99. The Union Ministry for textiles has announced a
solar energy scheme for which units from April 1,
2017?
(a) Solar Energy Scheme for Small Powerloom
Units
(b) Solar Energy Scheme for Medium Powerloom
Units
(c) Solar Energy for Large Powerloom Units
(d) None of the above
100. ICAR and ICRISAT signed an agreement for
(a) crop improvement
(b) transfer of agricultural technologies between
two institutes
(c) development of climate smart crops, smart food
(d) All of the above
www.crackclat.com CLATFOCUS (April-2017)
© This module is part of copyrighted material, any replica by any one may invite penal action. 32
Answer Key CLATFOCUS April - 2017
Q. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Ans. B A A C C A C A B A
Q. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
Ans. A A A D A A D A A B
Q. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.
Ans. D A A A C A A B B A
Q. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40.
Ans. A A B A C B A A A D
Q. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50.
Ans. C D A A C A A C A C
Q. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60.
Ans. A A A A C A A C A C
Q. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70.
Ans. A B D D C A A A B A
Q. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80.
Ans. D C D B B A A A A A
Q. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90.
Ans. A D C B C D A A A A
Q. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96. 97. 98. 99. 100.
Ans. D A A B A A A A A D
top related