Current Affairs Quiz , 09 Nov 2018

1) Simbex 2018, is a bilateral naval exercise between India and which of the following countries?

a) Sri Lanka
b) Singapore
c) South Korea
d) Seychelles

Answer: b
• Bilateral Exercise Between Indian & Republic of Singapore Navies – SIMBEX 18 – marks Silver Jubilee this Year.
• The 25th edition of SIMBEX, an acronym for “Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise” is scheduled from 10th to 21st November 2018 off Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal.
• Bilateral cooperation between Singapore and India was first formalised when RSN ships began training with the Indian Navy in 1994.
• What began as a modest endeavour to exchange best practices in the field of Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW).
• Significance:
o Complementing India’s ‘Act-East’ policy, there have been a number of agreements and high level visits in the recent past between the two countries.
o Both countries have a full calendar of more than 20 bilateral mechanisms, dialogues and exercises, many of which take place annually.
o In November 2015, the robust relationship between the two countries was elevated to ‘Strategic Partnership’.
• SIMBEX 2018 will be the largest edition since 1994 in terms of scale and complexity.

2) The world’s oldest known animal drawing has been found in which of the following countries?

a) India
b) Uganda
c) Indonesia
d) Australia

Answer: c
• Oldest known animal drawing found in remote Indonesian cave.
• The sketch depicts four-legged cattle and is more than 40,000 years old, slightly older than the ivory sculptures found earlier in Germany.
• Until now, the oldest known human-made figures were ivory sculptures found in Germany.
• Researchers have found older man-made images, but these were abstract patterns, such as crisscrossing lines.
• The switch to figurative art represented an important shift in how people thought about the world around them and possibly themselves.

3) The recently approved Strategic Petroleum Reserves at Padur is located in

a) Kerala
b) Tamil Nadu
c) Karnataka
d) Telangana

Answer: c
• The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister has approved the filling of Padur Strategic Petroleum Reserves(SPR) at Padur, Karnataka by overseas National Oil Companies (NOCs).
• The SPR facility at Padur is an underground rock cavern with a total capacity of 2.5 million metric tonnes (MMT) having four compartments of 0.625 MMT each.
• The Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve (ISPR) is an emergency fuel store of total 5.33 MMT (million metric tons) or 36.92 MMbbl of strategic crude oil enough to provide 10 days of consumption which are maintained by the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited.
• Strategic crude oil storages are at 3 underground locations in Mangalore, Visakhapatnam and Padur(near Udupi).
• All these are located on the east and west coasts of India which are readily accessible to the refineries.
• These strategic storages are in addition to the existing storages of crude oil and petroleum products with the oil companies and serve in response to external supply disruptions.
Why is it important?
• India is the world’s third largest energy consumer after the US and China.
• The trouble is, we produce very little oil of our own and are dependent on imports for more than 80 per cent of our needs.
• The chunk of this is from West Asia which is often in the midst some geo-political face-off or the other.
• Added to this, there’s always the risk of supply disruption from natural disasters, war or other calamities.
• Strategic petroleum reserves add much-needed heft to the country’s energy security, giving us crucial time and breathing space if push comes to show.

4) The Dredging Corporation of India Ltd is a

a) Maharatana company
b) Miniratna Cat I company
c) Navaratna company
d) Miniratna Cat II company

Answer: b
• Cabinet approves strategic disinvestment of 100% Govt. of India’s equity in the Dredging Corporation of India Ltd. (DCIL).
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister has given ‘in principle’ approval for strategic disinvestment of 100% Government of India’s shares in DCIL to consortium of four ports namely: Vishakhapatnam Port Trust, Paradeep Port Trust, Jawahar Lal Nehru Port Trust and Kandla Port Trust.
• Presently the Government of India holds 73.44% shares in Dredging Corporation of India Limited.
• The approval will further facilitate the linkage of dredging activities with the ports, keeping in view the role of the DCIL in expansion of dredging activity in the country as well as potential scope for diversification of ports into third party dredging.
• This would further provide opportunities for larger investment in DCIL as integration with ports shall help ineffective vertical linkage in the value chain.
• Dredging Corporation of India Limited, or DCI, is a Miniratna Indian public sector unit engaged in the business of dredging.
• DCI does dredging for Indian seaports exclusively.
• It occasionally dredges at foreign seaports in countries such as Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Dubai.
• It is mainly involved in maintenance dredging.
• Almost all the maintenance dredging in Indian seaports is carried out by DCI due to government regulations.
• DCI is also involved in capital dredging, beach nourishment, and land reclamation.

5) The recently invented Bionic Mushrooms that generate green power is supercharged with which of the following?

a) Mycorrhizae
b) Cyanobacteria
c) Mycoplasma
d) Yeast

Answer: b
• Scientists, including those of Indian origin, have created a bionic device that generates green power by 3D-printing clusters of cyanobacteria on an ordinary white button mushroom.
• The researchers took an ordinary white button mushroom from a grocery store and made it bionic, supercharging it with clusters of cyanobacteria that create electricity and swirls of graphene nanoribbons that can collect the current.
• Cyanobacteria’s ability to produce electricity is well known.
• However, researchers have been limited in using these microbes in bioengineered systems because cyanobacteria do not survive long on artificial bio-compatible surfaces.