Very important current Gk questions series #15 Part-2

Bihar
Recently, Bihar claimed that it harvested a world record 22.4 tonnes of rice from one hectare of land without using herbicides or genetically modified (GM) seeds last year. However, China’s most renowned agricultural scientist Yuan Longping has described it as “120 per cent fake.” A national icon, Yuan Longping is known here as “the father of hybrid rice” for developing varieties that enabled China to transform its grain output. His rice varieties were subsequently introduced widely in the world, and marked a record yield of 19.4 tonnes a hectare. According to reports from Bihar — confirmed subsequently by the Indian government — farmers in Nalanda district had bested that world record using a herbicide-free, GM-free and chemical-free method called System of Rice Intensification (SRI) — a feat that some researchers have said could transform rice farming across the world.

Antarctica
The Don Juan Pond in Antarctica’s frigid McMurdo Dry Valley is the world’s saltiest and unlikeliest water body on the planet.

Narendra Kohli
Eminent Hindi litterateur Narendra Kohli has been selected for the prestigious Vyas Samman for 2012 for his historical novel ‘ Na Bhooto Na Bhavishyati’ based on Swami Vivekananda and the era he belonged to. Instituted by the K. K. Birla Foundation in 1991, the award is given annually for an outstanding literary work in Hindi published during the past ten years. The award carries a cash purse of Rs 2.5 lakh. ‘ Na Bhooto Na Bhavishyati’ , published in 2004, gives an account of the incredible impression that Vivekananda cast on the history of the country and its culture. Mr. Kohli, 73, is credited with re-inventing the ancient form of epic writing in modern prose. He has published 76 books including short story collections, novels and plays.

ISRO
The world’s first smartphone-controlled Nano satellite with a high definition camera will be launched into the orbit around the Earth by the Indian satellite Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Called STRaND-1 (Surrey Training, Research and Nanosatellite Demonstrator), the British-built spacecraft will be controlled by a Google Nexus One mobile device running on the Android operating system. The satellite will be part of a six-month mission in the orbit. The mobile phone in STRaND will run a number of applications to collect scientific data and some for just fun and outreach. Once launched, the ground station at the Surrey Space Centre at the University of Surrey will take over to monitor the satellite. The camera will take Earth’s pictures. In fact, through an app, the public can request their own unique satellite image of Earth through a Web site, where images can be seen on a map showing where they have been acquired.

Bright Target Explorer (BRITE)
BRIght Target Explorer (BRITE) is the smallest astronomical satellite ever built. Each nano-satellite in the BRIght Target Explorer (BRITE) mission is a cube 20 centimeters per side, and weighing less than 7 kilograms. The BRITE satellites are part of the new wave of nano-satellites that can be designed, assembled and deployed fast and relatively cheaply. BRITE is the first nano-satellite mission intended for astronomy, and the first-ever astronomy constellation-more than one satellite working toward a common objective-of any size. The previous world-record holder for small astronomy satellites was the MOST satellite, designed and assembled in part by SFL at UTIAS. The BRITE is set to launched by from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota , India on February 25.

Football
Santosh Trophy is an annual Indian football tournament which is contested by states and government institutions. The first winners were Bengal, who also lead the all-time winners list with 31 titles till date. The tournament first began in 1941, and was the premier football competition in the country before the National Football League started in the year 1996. The trophy as named after the late Maharaja Sir Manmatha Nath Roy Chowdhary of Santosh, which is now in Bangladesh, who had been the President of the Indian Football Association, the football organisation of Bengal and the donators of the trophy.

Central Statistical Office

HSBC
Purchasing Managers’ Index is published by HSBC.