Current Affair October 27

National Security

1. Chhota Rajan was arrested from Bali

Chhota Rajan underworld don who gained widespread sympathy from Indian public when he severed his ties with Dawood Ibrahim after Dawood's involvement in 1993 bomb blast in Mumbai.  He is the India's one of the most wanted fugitive and a major figure in Mumbai's underworld. Process to expedite his deportation has began.

Economic

1.Know Major recommendations in Atal Innovation Mission Report

FM minster Arun Jaitley allocated Rs.150 crore in the budget for Atal Innovation Fund(AIF) with an aim to build entrepreneur friendly system which will  drive growth and create jobs. Following that a committee was formed to suggest measures to be taken to achieve the goal.
Its recommendations are given below. Read carefully

A. Private sector should be incentivised to fund research in universities and start-ups by providing them improved tax benefits. For example a certain percentage of corporate profit can be diverted toward venture capital funds which will invest in start-ups or it can be used to fund industry-university collaborative research.

B. Government must step up its investment in start-ups. Report cited the example of Google and Apple. Google origin can be traced back to the research projects backed by U.S government and Apple success can be credited to investment assistance programme for small businesses extended by governments

 C. All defence contracts above $5 billion should have a clause for diverting 5 percent of contract's value to establish research universities with particular focus on core product and general focus in other areas.

D. 500 tinkering labs should be set-up under "Make in University programme" where new products experiments to solve locals problem can be done. A part of fund from Self Employment and Talent Utilization (SETU) scheme can be used for this purpose.

E. Concept of "Grand Prizes " in line with U.S  xPrize under which millions of dollars are given to those who provide solutions to major technical problems should be introduced . Around 12 "Grand Prices " worth Rs.10-20 crore can be give for disruptive and innovative ideas.

F. A 'Fund of Fund ' (FOF) worth 5000 crore should be created to seed early stage venture funds.

Moreover AIM will have four groups

1. Ideas and Network : institutionalise collaboration between all stake holders including universities , private sector and civil society.
2. Angel Fund: It will be Fund of Fund which will ensure that venture capital and angel funding  reaches innovative ideas.
3. Governance Innovation : will specifically focus on innovation which support daily governance challenges
4.Mission Group : It is a kind of coordination group for all three groups. It responsible to coordinate all levels of governance to bring target based outcome.

International

1. Why Russian submarines near undersea cables worrying America

 Protection of undersea cables which carry 95 percent of daily communication and $10 trillion a day in global business are more important then ever before.

Russian submarine and spy ships are aggressively operating near these vital under sea cables. This has raised American concerns because Russia in time of conflict can halt the instant communication on which U.S government and its entire economy depends by severing these optic fibre cable at hard -to-access locations .

2. Jimmy Morales a Comedian became President

Jimmay Morales who quit his comedy show last year become the President of Guatemala. His election to high post is seen as public outrage over corruption scandal of last government that has consumed one of the Central America's poorest country. There was deep yearning for change. Guatemala is a poor country with 54 percent of population living below poverty line. It is still recovering from a 36 year old civil war that ended in 1996.

Railway

1. Japan-China conducted studies for bullet train in India

Agencies from China and Japan has completed the studies on the scope of operation  of bullet train between Mumbai-Ahmedadbad and Chennai -New Delhi. Presently fastest train in India is between New Delhi and Agra which travel at the speed of 150km per hour.

Women

1. More women in combat role 

Following the suit of air force which allowed for first time commission of women into fighter stream army and navy are also considering appointing women in combat roles. This will disturb the status qua in male dominated military. The aim is to give almost equal status to women as fas there is no logistical , infrastructure and training issues.
Delhi High Court in a landmark judgement granted permanent commission(PC) for women while pulling up Defence Ministry for "sexist bias" and blocking women's progress.

Earthquake

1.Things to know about Hindukush earthquake

An earthquake on October 26 at Hindukush mountain range impacted various part of north India. Few facts to note

A. The felt area of earthquake was quite large because  of presence of soft sediments across Indo-Gangetic plan. When earthquake waves pass through soft segments they get trapped and amplified.

B. Ground shaking intensity of earthquake released energy equivalent to 50 Hiroshima atomic bombs.

Science

1.Processed meat can cause cancer

The World Health Organisation(WHO) announced that processed meat , red meat  such as bacon, sausages and ham can cause cancer. It is an very important news for meat industry as it can affect their revenue drastically.

2. Robot that  can both fly and swim

Harvard scientists designed insect-like robot smaller then a paper-clip which can both fly and swim. The biggest challenge during design was the conflicting design requirements. While aerial vehicles require large air foils like wings to generate lift, the underwater vehicles require  to maintain minimum surface area to reduce drag.
The team took the clue from puffins which employs flapping motion to propel themselves through air as well as water.