CURRENT AFFAIR 16 SEPTEMBER

1) What is the name of India’s most formidable and advanced nuclear capable strategic missile that was tested for its full range of 5,000 km on 15 September, 2013? – Agni-V (The test was conducted from DRDO’s missile testing facility on Wheeler Island, Odisha. The launch of Agni-V onceagain demonstrated India’s capability in firing an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). India staked the claim to join an elite club of nations to possess the technology for developing ICBMs after the remarkable success of Agni-V’s maiden flight-test in April last year. This missile is now expected to be part of Indian defence forces by 2015)

2) An agreement on Syrian chemical
weapons was reached between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on14 September, 2013. What are the important points agreed upon in this agreement?

• Syria will destroy or remove all its chemical weapons, material and equipment by mid-2014
• A UN Security Council resolution would be sought that could authorize sanctions short of military action if President Bashar Assad’s government fails to comply
• International inspectors will be on the ground in Syria by November, 2013 to complete their initial work by the end of that that month

(The United Nations later formally accepted Syria’s application to join the chemical weapons convention)

3) How much advance tax for second quarter of present financial year was paid by country’s largest commercial bank State Bank of India (SBI), as announced by it on 15 September, 2013? –Rs. 1,120 crore (This was about 40% less than that paid during the corresponding period last year when it paid Rs. 1,820 crore. The advance tax pay-out decline from SBI comes amid a period of gloom on the economic front, with the quarterly GDP growth falling to a four-year low of 4.4 per cent for the April-June period)

4) Japan on 15 September, 2013 started switching off its last operating nuclear reactor for an inspection, with no date scheduled for a restart amid strong public hostility towards atomic power. Which nuclear power plant is this? – Kansai Electric Power’s Ohi nuclear power plant’s No. 4 reactor in Ohi, Fukui Prefecture.

5) What is the name of the woman from West Bengal who was declared world’s tallest woman by the Guinness Book of World Records? – Siddiqa Parveen (Siddiqa Parveen, a resident of South Dinajpur in West Bengal received her title from the authorities of Guinness Book. Her height is at least 7 ft 8 inch. Because of ill health and Parveen’s inability to stand upright, it is impossible to ascertain her exact stature. The record for the shortest living woman already belongs to an Indian Jyoti Amge, who is just 62.8 cm tall)