GK & Current Affairs March 2016

 An unmanned spacecraft named ExoMars 2016 was successfully launched jointly Europe and Russia to search for biosignatures on Mars (or Martian life) in past or present. 
•    The spacecraft was launched on a Proton-M rocket operated by Russia’s Roscosmos from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. ExoMars 2016 is the first of a two-phase of ExoMars (Exobiology on Mars) program. 
•    About ExoMars program ExoMars program is an astrobiology mission of European Space Agency (ESA) and Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos). 
•    Primary Goal is to address the question of whether life has ever existed on Mars. 
•    The program comprises two missions: 
•    ExoMars 2016 and ExoMars 2018. ExoMars 2016: It consists of the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and Schiaparelli, an entry, descent and landing demonstrator module. 
•    Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO): Its sole purpose is to search (trace) evidence of methane (CH4) and other atmospheric gases that could be signatures of active biological or geological processes on Mars. 
•    TGO has 4 suites of science instruments. They are ACS (Atmospheric Chemistry Suite), FREND (Fine Resolution Epithermal Neutron Detector), CaSSIS (Color and Stereo Surface Imaging System) and NOMAD (Nadir and Occultation for MArs Discovery). 
•    It will obtain measurements of electric fields on the Mar’s surface combined with measurements of the concentration of atmospheric dust. 
•    For the first time it will provide new insights into the role of electric forces on dust lifting, the trigger for dust storms on the Martian surface. 
•    It is planned to be launched in 2018. It comprises a unmanned rover and surface science platform. 
•    The rover that will carry a drill and a suite of instruments dedicated for the exobiology and geochemistry research. 
•    At present there are two rovers functional on the Mars viz. Curiosity and Opportunity which were sent by NASA, the federal space agency of United States.

 British mathematician Sir Andrew Wiles on 15 March 2016 was named as the winner of the 2016 Abel Prize by the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters in Oslo.
•    Wiles won the award for solving a centuries-old hypothesis, Fermat's Last Theorem.
•    Crown Prince Haakon will present the award to Wiles in May 2016 for an achievement that the academy described as an epochal moment for mathematics.
•    Sir Andrew John Wiles is a Royal Society Research Professor at the University of Oxford, specialising in number theory.
•    He is most notable for proving Fermat's Last Theorem.
•    He earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1974 at Merton College, Oxford, and a PhD in 1980 at Clare College, Cambridge.
•    In 1985–86, he was a Guggenheim Fellow at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques near Paris and at the École Normale Supérieure.
•    From 1988 to 1990, he was a Royal Society Research Professor at the University of Oxford. He rejoined Oxford in 2011 as Royal Society Research Professor.
•    In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem states that no three positive integers a, b, and c satisfy the equation an + bn = cn for any integer value of n greater than two. The cases n = 1 and n = 2 are known to have infinitely many solutions since ancient times.
•    The theorem was first conjectured by Pierre de Fermat in 1637.
•    However, the first successful proof was released in 1994 by Andrew Wiles. It was formally published in 1995, after 358 years of effort by mathematicians.
•    It is among the most notable theorems in the history of mathematics and prior to its proof it was in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most difficult mathematical problem.
•    The Abel Prize is a Norwegian prize awarded annually by the Government of Norway to one or more outstanding mathematicians.
•    It is named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel.
•    The award was established in 2001 by the Government of Norway.
•    It comes with a monetary award of 6 million Norwegian kroner.
•    The Abel Prize is described as the mathematician's Nobel Prize.
•    John F. Nash, Jr. And Louis Nirenberg were the winners of the 2015 Abel Prize.

 The International Labour Organisation (ILO) on 14 March 2016 announced that around 90 percent of domestic workers in the world are excluded from social protection.
•    It was revealed by the ILO in its Social Protection Policy Paper 16 entitled Social protection for domestic workers: Key policy trends and statistics.
•    Highlights of Social Protection Policy Paper 16
•    60 million of the world’s 67 million domestic workers still do not have access to any kind of social security coverage.
•    The vast majority of domestic workers are women, accounting for 80 per cent of all workers in the sector globally.
•    Most of their work is undervalued and unprotected. When domestic workers become old or injured, they are fired, without a pension or adequate income support.
•    As female workforce highly subject to social and economic vulnerability, policies to extend social protection to domestic workers are key elements in the fight against poverty and the promotion of gender equality.
•    The largest gaps in social security coverage for domestic work are concentrated in developing countries, with Asia and Latin America representing 68 per cent of domestic workers worldwide.
•    The study revealed that social protection deficits for domestic workers also persist in some industrialized countries.
•    In Italy, for example, some 60 per cent of domestic workers are not registered with, or contributing to, social security systems.
•    In Spain and France, 30 per cent of domestic workers are excluded from social security coverage.
•    It cautioned that migrant domestic workers – currently estimated at 11.5 million worldwide – often face even greater discrimination.
•    Around 14 per cent of countries whose social security systems provide some type of coverage for domestic workers do not extend the same rights to migrant domestic workers.
•    Apart from mandatory coverage, the strategies to protect them should include fiscal incentives, registration plans, awareness-raising campaigns targeting domestic workers and their employers as well as service voucher mechanisms.
•    Domestic work should also be integrated into broader policies aimed at reducing informal work.
•    The coverage of domestic workers by social security schemes is feasible and affordable, including in lower middle and low-income countries, as evidence from Mali, Senegal and Viet Nam clearly demonstrates.

 Union Government on 15 March 2016 imposed anti-dumping duty of up to 44.7 percent on import of plastic-processing machines for five years. 
•    It will be implemented on the imports from Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
•    The duty will be levied on all kinds of plastic-processing or injection-moulding machines, also known as injection presses.
•    According to Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), the safeguard duty was imposed after it was noticed that these imports from other countries led to deterioration of performance of the domestic industry.
•    Anti-dumping duty of 27.98 percent has been imposed on plastic-processing machines imported from Chinese Taipei.
•    Safeguard duty of 44.74 percent and 30.85 percent has been imposed for the same products imported from Malaysia and the Philippines.
•    Imports from Vietnam will attract a levy of 23.15 percent.
•    Plastic-processing or injection-moulding machines are used for processing or moulding plastic materials. 
•    Anti-dumping measures are taken to ensure fair trade and provide a level-playing field to the domestic industry. 
•    They are not a measure to restrict imports or cause an unjustified increase in cost of products.

 India ranked 118th out of 157 countries on the United Nations’ World Happiness Index (WHI) 2016. It was revealed by the fourth World Happiness Report 2016 published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), a global initiative for the UN. 
•    Top 10 countries: Denmark (1st), Switzerland (2nd), Iceland (3rd), Norway (4th) and Finland (5th), Canada (6th), Netherlands (7th), New Zealand (8th), Australia (9th) and Sweden (10th). 
•    5 Least happiest countries: Rwanda (152nd), Benin (153rd), Afghanistan (154th), Togo (155th), Syria (156th) and Burundi (157th). Among BRICS: Brazil (17th), Russia (56th), China (83rd), South Africa (116th) and India (118th). 
•    For the first time, the report has given a special role to the measurement and consequences of inequality in the distribution of well-being among countries and regions. 
•    Countries where there was less inequality were happier overall. 
•    Top five countries have strong social security systems About World Happiness Report The report aims at influencing government policy and is prepared based upon study undertaken by Gallup World Poll. 
•    These variables include real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, corruption levels and social freedoms India was ranked 111th in 2013 and 117th in 2015.

 President Barack Obama has nominated veteran appeals court judge Merrick Garland (63) to be the next US Supreme Court Justice. 
•    His nomination comes to vacancy in the US Supreme Court which was created after the death of SC Justice Antonin Scalia. The Supreme Court vacancy follows the death of Antonin Scalia last month. This appointment now has to be ratified by the Senate. 
•    Judge Garland is viewed as a centrist and moderate. He is highly regarded by the legal fraternity and lawmakers. 
•    India-born Srikanth Srinivasan was also one of the contenders for the nomination. 
•    Currently he is serving as US Circuit Judge of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
•    President Barack Obama on 16 March 2016 nominated appeals court judge Merrick Garland to be the next US Supreme Court Justice. 
•    63-year-old Garland will be 113th Supreme Court justice of the US.
•    Garland, who is the Chief Judge on the US Court of Appeals in D.C. Circuit, will succeed Justice Antonin Scalia who died on 13 February 2016.
•    Justice Garland is viewed as a moderate and has won praise from senior Republican figures. 
•    The appointment has to be ratified by the Senate, but its Republican majority has vowed to block a vote on any Supreme Court nominee from Obama.

 The National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) on 16 March 2016 signed a License Agreement with Kudos Laboratories India for commercialization of Ayush-82, an Ayurvedic formulation for prevention and management of diabetes.
•    The agreement will now allow Kudos Laboratories India to commercialize the drug under their trade name with due acknowledgement to Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India.
•    Ayush-82 was developed by CCRAS. The CCRAS is an apex organization for research in Ayurveda under the Ministry of AYUSH.
•    Kudos Laboratories India, a 100 years old organization, is engaged in marketing, manufacturing and exports of the widest range of Ayurvedic / Herbal products and range of Cosmetics.
•    The company holds G.M.P & ISO Certifications.

 Lloyd Stowell Shapley, an American mathematician and Nobel Prize-winning economist, died on 12 March 2016. He was 92.
•    Shapley, who contributed to the fields of mathematical economics and especially game theory, won the Nobel Prize for economics in 2012.
•    He made fundamental contributions to economic theory and game theory.
•    His work is central to the modern understanding of competitive behavior and its game theoretic underpinnings.
•    In 1967, he, along with Bondareva, proposed the Bondareva-Shapley theorem. This work introduced the notion of “balanced,” a key notion to this day for understanding when games have nonempty cores.
•    His interest areas include Non-cooperative market models, political games, cost allocation and organization theory.
•    He, along with Alvin Roth, won the Nobel Prize for his work on the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design.
•    The theory offers solution to a key economic problem - How to bring different players together in the best possible way?
•    Alvin Roth used Shapley's theoretical results to explain how markets function in practice. Through empirical studies and lab experiments, Roth and his colleagues demonstrated that stability was critical to successful matching methods.
•    Roth also developed systems for matching doctors with hospitals, school pupils with schools, and organ donors with patients.
•    Apart from the Nobel, he won innumerable awards and honours that include John von Neumann Theory Prize and Golden Goose Award in 1981 and 2013 respectively

 India Inc. on 12 March 2016 formally adopted the United Nations' (UN) agenda for the world's sustainable development and the 17 goals identified for its implementation in Mumbai.
•    The 11th National Convention on Sustainable Development Goals organized by the Global Compact Network in Mumbai, which was inaugurated by Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, assumed significance as this is for the first time the UN is involving private and public sector corporates globally to drive its development agenda. This was the first such meeting which was held globally.
•    Top 50 domestic corporate leaders such as the Tata Group, the Aditya Birla Group, Reliance, Vedanta, the Adani Group and public sector behemoth Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and several MNCs will officially adopt the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 (SDGs).
•    The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the continuum of the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which were under implementation from January 2000 to December 2015. These 17 SDGs are being implemented from January 2016 to December 2030.
•    17 Sustainable Development Goals are:
•    No Poverty
•    Zero Hunger
•    Good Health and Well Being
•    Quality Education
•    Gender Equality
•    Clean Water and Sanitation
•    Affordable and Clean Energy
•    Decent Work and Economic Growth
•    Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
•    Required Inequalities
•    Sustainable Cities and Communities
•    Responsible Consumption and Production
•    Climate Action
•    Life Below Water
•    Life on Land
•    Peace Justice and Strong Institutions
•    Partnerships for the Goals
•    United Nations Global Compact is a UN initiative to encourage businesses worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible polices, and to report on their implementation.  
•    Under the Global Compact, companies are brought together with UN agencies, labour groups and civil society.
•    It is the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative with 13000 corporate participants and other stakeholders over 170 countries.
•    The Global Compact Network India, an association of over 300 companies, functions as the Indian Local Network of UN Global Compact, New York.

 Priyanka Kakodkar and Raksha Kumar on 15 March 2016 were named as joint winners of the 2015-16 Chameli Devi Jain Award. 
•    They were awarded for their work that clubs social concern and compassion with pioneering reportage and analytical skills.
•    Kakodkar's reports, targeted on the acute farming crisis in Maharashtra, were published on the front page of The Times of India in the year 2015. 
•    More than 50 of her reports were published in a year by the paper.
•    Independent journalist Raksha Kumar won the honour as her reports focused on the perilous features of the Union Government's proposal to amend the Land Acquisition Act, the Forest Rights Act and the Coal Act.
•    The award will be presented by former Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on 17 March 2016 at the India International Centre, Delhi.
•    The annual Chameli Devi Award of The Media Foundation is the premier award for women media persons in India.
•    It was first awarded in 1982.