Current Affairs Quiz , 13 Nov 2018

1) INDRA, 2018 is a joint military exercise between India and which of the following countries?

a) Australia
b) U.S
c) Indonesia
d) Russia

Answer: d
• The joint military exercise between Indian and Russia EXERCISE INDRA 2018 on combating insurgency under the aegis of United Nations (UN) is being conducted at Babina Field Firing Ranges.
• The aim of the exercise is to practice joint planning and conduct to enhance interoperability of the two Armies in the peace keeping/ enforcement environment under the aegis of the UN.
• It focuses upon training on enhancing team building, special tactical level operations such as Cordon and Search, house intervention, handling and neutralisation of Improvised Explosive Devices and integrated employment of force multipliers.
• The primary focus of the tactical field exercise is to share best practices amongst the militaries and hone existing skills of the troops in the backdrop of interoperability between the two Armies in the peace keeping/ enforcement environment.
• The topics chosen for the exercise are both live and contemporary affecting both the nation alike.
• The tenth exercise in the series of Exercise INDRA is aimed at sending a strong message to the world with intent of appreciation of interoperability between Indian and Russian Armies for joint tactical level operations.

2) The world’s largest brain-mimicking supercomputer is called

a) Cray Titan
b) SpiNNaker
c) Fujitsu K computer
d) Jaguar

Answer: b
• The world’s largest supercomputer designed to work in the same way as the human brain has been switched on for the first time.
• The Spiking Neural Network Architecture machine is capable of completing more than 200 million million actions per second, with each of its chips having 100 million transistors.
• SpiNNaker, built at the University of Manchester in the U.K., can model more biological neurons.
• Biological neurons are basic brain cells present in the nervous system that communicate by emitting ‘spikes’ of pure electro-chemical energy.
• It is unique as it mimics the massively parallel communication architecture of the brain, sending billions of small amounts of information simultaneously to thousands of different destinations.
• SpiNNaker completely re-thinks the way conventional computers work.

3) The conference on Global Digital Content Market was organised in which city?

a) Mumbai
b) Ahmedabad
c) Bangalore
d) New Delhi

Answer: d
• The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, is hosting a conference on Global Digital Content Market (GDCM)2018 in New Delhi
• The GDCM 2018 will see participation of professionals from various creative fields, the digital industry around the world and delegates of the diplomatic community from Missions to the United Nations.
• The aim of GDCM 2018 is to give industry stakeholders a platform to come together and discuss new avenues in the films, music, gaming and creative industry along with points of challenge that is presented due to the changing creative landscape because of the disruption brought about by digital technologies.
• It is hoped that through the GDCM 2018 an exchange of knowledge, culture and good practices amongst the nations of the Asia Pacific region will take place.
• GDCM is a platform to discuss vital issues and enhance development of the digital and IP generating industries such as publishing, films, music, and gaming all of which are major contributors to the Indian GDP

4) India has signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership with which of the following organisations?

a) ASEAN
b) BRICS
c) SCO
d) SAARC

Answer: a
• The Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, led the Indian delegation to the 7th RCEP Inter-Sessional Ministerial Meeting in Singapore.
• Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is a proposed free trade agreement between ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thai-land, Vietnam)and six Asia Pacific states with each ASEAN has existing free trade agreements (Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand).
• RCEP is viewed as an alternative to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a pro-posed trade agreement which includes several Asian and American nations but excludes China and India.
• RCEP is the world’s largest economic bloc, covering nearly half of the global econo-my.
• RCEP’s share of the global economy could account for half of the estimated $0.5 quadrillion global GDP (PPP) by 2050.
• India’s concerns:
• First is the greater access Chinese goods will have to the Indian market, a problem given India’s massive trade deficit.
• Demands by other RCEP countries for lower customs duties on a number of products and greater access to the market than India has been willing to provide.
• The more developed RCEP countries such as Australia and Singapore have been unwilling to accommodate India’s demands to liberalise their ser-vices regime and allow freer mobility of Indian workers.

5) Keibul Lamjao National Park is located in

a) Nagaland
b) Manipur
c) Meghalaya
d) Mizoram

Answer: b
• The Keibul Lamjao National Park (Kei- Tiger, Bul – vast, Lamjao-Land) is a national park in the Bishnupur district of the state of Manipur in India.
• It is 40 km2 (15.4 sq mi) in area, the only floating park in the world, located in North East India, and an integral part of Loktak Lake.
• The national park is characterized by many floating decomposed plant materials local-ly called phumdis.
• To preserve the natural refuge of the endangered Manipur Eld’s deer or brow-antlered deer (Cervus eldi eldi), or Sangai also called the dancing deer, listed as an endan-gered species by IUCN, the park which was initially declared to be a sanctuary in 1966, was subsequently declared to be a national park in 1977 through a gazette no-tification.