GK & Current Affairs June 2016

The 10th National Statistics Day was celebrated on 29 June 2016 across the country with the theme Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.
•    The main function for the celebration was organised by the Ministry of Statistics Programme Implementation at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
•    The National Statistics Day is celebrated annually on the occasion of birth anniversary of Late Prof PC Mahalanobis, India’s eminent statistician.
•    Its objective is to create public awareness among people, especially the younger generation about the importance of statistics in daily life as well as in the process of planning and development.
•    The 2015 National Statistics Day was celebrated with the theme social development.
•    World Statistics Day is celebrated on 20 October 2010 worldwide.
•    He was born on 29 June 1893. He was an Indian Bengali scientist and applied statistician.
•    He is best remembered for the Mahalanobis distance, a statistical measure.
•    He made pioneering studies in anthropometry in India.
•    As a member of Planning Commission, he gave the Two-sector Input-output model for the Second Five Year Plan (1956-61) which became famous as Nehru-Mahalanobis model or Basic Industry strategy of economic growth.
•    He founded the Indian Statistical Institute, and contributed to the design of large-scale sample surveys.

India has been ranked 105th out of 130 countries on the World Economic Forum's Human Capital Index, which measures countries’ ability to nurture, develop and deploy talent for economic growth. Finland, Norway, and Switzerland hold the top three positions (respectively), utilizing around 85 per cent of their human capital. 

•    The index has been released by Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF). 
•    While other countries like China (71) and Bangladesh (104) were ranked above India. 
•    Pakistan ranks further lower at 118th place. 
•    Countries ranked below India include Nepal, Myanmar, Haiti, Malawi and Burundi while Mauritania, Yemen, Chad, Nigeria and Mali are placed in the bottom-five with below 50 % talent optimization. 
•    India was ranked 100th last year out of total 124 countries included in the 2015 index.

To get the world’s most powerful rocket off the ground, it’s going to take some serious thrust from its rocket boosters. 

•    NASA successfully tested one of those 77-ton rocket boosters by lighting it up at full power—all while never leaving the ground.
•    The rocket booster appeared to work just as expected on its test. To really know how it performed, of course, we’ll have to wait for the engineers to let the rocket cool down and take it apart. But the pictures showed a test that went pretty flawlessly.
•    There will actually be two of those boosters attached to NASA’s SLS rocket when it blasts off on its first scheduled test flight in 2018. 
•    NASA has pinned its hopes for a future Mars mission on that SLS rocket—but first it needs to prove the rocket is ready to get off the ground. 
•    In preparation, NASA has been testing the rocket piece-by-piece.

Indigenously developed heavyweight torpedo Varunastra was inducted in the Indian Navy on 29 June 2016. It was handed to the Indian Navy by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.With this India joined a select group of eight countries having the capability to design and develop heavyweight torpedoes.
•    The torpedo was designed and developed by Naval Science and Technological Laboratory of the DRDO for the Indian Navy. It carries 95 percent of indigenous content.
•    It weighs around 1.25 tonnes and is capable of carrying about 250 kg of explosives at a speed of around 40 nautical miles an hour.
•    Varunastra, a versatile naval weapon can be fired from the Rajput class destroyers, Delhi class and all future Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) ships capable of firing heavy weight torpedoes.
•    It is capable of targeting quiet and stealthy submarines both in deep and littoral waters even in intense countermeasure atmosphere.
•    Torpedo is a self-propelled weapon with an explosive warhead.
•    It can be launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target.
•    It is designed to detonate either on contact with its target or in proximity to it.
•    The term torpedo was originally employed for a variety of devices, most of which would today be called mines.
•    From about 1900, torpedo has been used strictly to designate an underwater self-propelled weapon.
•    The original torpedo is a kind of fish: an electric ray.Earlier, Torpedo Varunastra was showcased for the first time on the 2016 Republic Day Parade at Rajpath.

Amaravati, the new capital of Andhra Pradesh, officially started functioning Wednesday.

•    The fifth block of the temporary state secretariat, constructed at Velagapudi near Vijayawada, was inaugurated and four departments of the state government were shifted there from Hyderabad.
•    The four departments that were shifted comprise Panchayati Raj and Rural Development, Health and Medical, Housing, and Labour and Employment departments. 
•    Panchayati Raj Minister Chintakayala Ayyanna Patrudu and Agriculture Minister inaugurated the offices under their respective ministries. Construction workers were seen giving final touches to the single-storey building.
•    Contrary to expectations, at least 200 employees from the four departments turned up for the inauguration ceremony and got the first glimpse of their new offices and workstations.
•    They left Hyderabad on morning in five new luxury buses of the state government. 
•    On reaching the secretariat at Velagapudi, they were welcomed by members of Andhra Pradesh Employees’ Association with bouquets and garlands.

Naga militant leader Isak Chishi Swu, who led a bloody insurgency in the Northeast for over three decades, died on Tuesday following multi-organ failure.

•    The 87-year-old Chairman of Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) was undergoing treatment for almost a year at a private hospital in South Delhi where he breathed his last around noon.
•    Swu, who belonged to the Sumi tribe, hailed from the Zunheboto district of Nagaland and his body will be taken to his native place tomorrow for last rites.
•    Swu along with NSCN-IM general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah formed the group in 1980 opposing the Shillong Accord signed by the then Naga National Council (NNC) with the central government for bringing peace in Nagaland.
•    The signing of the pact came after over 80 rounds of negotiations that spanned 16 years with first breakthrough in 1997 when the ceasefire agreement was sealed.
•    Swu joined the Naga National Council (NNC) in the 1950s and served it in different capacities till its split in 1980.

Scientists have discovered specimens of complete wings of tiny, prehistoric birds that were trapped in amber 100 million years ago and preserved in exquisite detail.
•    Thousands of fossil birds from the time of the dinosaurs have been uncovered in China. However, most of these fossils are flattened in the rock, even though they commonly preserve fossils.
•    The new specimens, discovered by researchers including Xing Lida from the China University of Geosciences, and Mike Benton from the University of Bristol in the UK, come from a famous amber deposit in northeastern Myanmar, which has produced thousands of exquisite specimens of insects of all shapes and sizes, as well as spiders, scorpions, lizards, and isolated feathers.
•    This is the first time that whole portions of birds have been noted.
•    The fossil wings are tiny, only two or three centimetres long, and they contain the bones of the wing, including three long fingers armed with sharp claws, for clambering about in trees, as well as the feathers, all preserved in exquisite detail.
•    The Burmese amber deposits are producing a treasure trove of remarkable early fossils, and they document a particularly active time in the evolution of life on land, the Cretaceous terrestrial revolution.
•    Flowering plants were flourishing and diversifying, and insects that fed on the leaves and nectar of the flowers were also diversifying fasts, as too were their predators, such as spiders, lizards, mammals, and birds.
•    The research was published in the journal Nature Communications.

MIT Technology review editors pick the 50 companies that best combine innovative technology with an effective business model.

•    Each year it identifies 50 companies that are “smart” in the way they create new opportunities. 
•    Some of this year’s stars are large companies, like Amazon and Alphabet, that are using digital technologies to redefine industries. 
•    Others are wrestling with technological changes: companies like Microsoft, Bosch, Toyota, and Intel.
•    Jeff Bezos-led online retail giant Amazon has topped MIT's annual list of the world's smartest companies of 2016 for combining innovative technology with an effective business model. 
•    Chinese web services company Baidu and the world’s largest DNA-sequencing company Illumine have been ranked second and third respectively. 
•    The list also includes Tesla Motors, Alphabet, Facebook, SpaceX and Snapchat.
•    Last year it included Amazon on its list of the 50 Smartest Companies for incorporating robots into its fulfillment centers. 
•    This year the standout is the surprising success of its Alexa Voice Service and the growing family of devices it powers (the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, and Tap). 

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India Shashi Kant Sharmahas been conferred with the honorary professorship by the Nanjing Audit University (NAU), China.
•    The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India Shashi Kant Sharmahas been conferred with the honorary professorship by the Nanjing Audit University (NAU), China. China’s Nanjing Audit University is the only university which is recognized by the Institute of Internal Auditors. 
•    Shashi Kant Sharmahas is a 1976 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Bihar cadre. 
•    He had succeeded Vinod Rai as the CAG, supreme federal auditor of the country in May 2013 Prior to appointment as CAG he had served as secretary in the Union Ministry of Defence. 
•    In July 2014 he had assumed office as Member of the United Nations Board of Auditor General (UNBAG) for a term of 6 years.
•    Mr. Sharma belongs to the 1976 batch of IAS (Bihar cadre).
•    He has B.Sc.from university of Allahabad ,and an M.Sc. in Administrative Science and Development Problems from University of York, and an M.A. in Political Science from Agra University.

Baku (Azerbaijan), June 28 (IANS) Rio-bound shooter Sanjeev Rajput settled for the silver medal in men’s 50-metre rifle 3 position event of the ISSF World Cup on 28th June 2016.

•    The two-time Olympian shot 456.9 to take the silver in the last World Cup before the Rio Games, which start on August 5.
•    Croatia’s Petar Gorsa clinched the gold medal with 457.5, while Hyeonjun Kim of Korea bagged the bronze after shooting 445.5.
•    The 35-year-old Indian finished seventh in the qualification with a score of 1167 in kneeling, prone and standing positions.
•    London Olympics bronze medallist Gagan Narang was 23rd with 1161 while Chain Singh found himself on a disappointing 32nd with a total of 1159.
•    Earlier, Jitu Rai bagged the silver in 10m Air Pistol event as India summed up its campaign at the World Cup with two silvers.