Daily GK Update 23rd August 2017

1. World's Highest-Paid Actors 2017: Forbes List

i. The former rapper-turned-actor Mark Wahlberg is Hollywood's highest-paid leading man, earning $68 million pretax in 12 month scoring period. From India, Shahrukh Khan is the highest paid actor (Rank 8) followed by Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar. Wahlberg has replaced out last year's top-ranked star, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

ii. The Top 10 Highest Paid Actors in the List are:

1. Mark Wahlberg ($68 million)

2. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson ($65 million)

3. Vin Diesel ($54.5 million)

4. Adam Sandler ($50.5 million)

5. Jackie Chan ($49 million)

6. Robert Downey, Jr. ($48 million)

7. Tom Cruise ($43 million)

8. Shah Rukh Khan ($38 million)

9. Salman Khan ($37 million)

10. Akshay Kumar ($35.5 million).

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• The highest paid Female Actress is Emma Stone ($26 million).

2. 17th meeting of FSDC Held in New Delhi

i. The seventeenth Meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) was held in New Delhi under the Chairmanship of the Union Minister of Finance, Shri Arun Jaitley.

ii. The Council discussed the Central KYC Registry (CKYCR) system. The Council also deliberated on strengthening the regulation of the Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs).

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Present Finance Minister of India is Mr. Arun Jaitley.
• R. K. Shanmukham Chetty was the First Finance Minister of Independent India.

3. NITI Aayog Launched 'Mentor India' Campaign

i. NITI Aayog launched the 'Mentor India Campaign'. It is a strategic nation building initiative to engage leaders who can guide and mentor students at more than 900 Atal Tinkering Labs, established across the country as a part of the Atal Innovation Mission.
ii. CEO NITI Aayog, Shri Amitabh Kant unveiled the online nationwide initiative in New Delhi. Mentor India is aimed at maximizing the impact of Atal Tinkering Labs, possibly the biggest disruption in formal education globally.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• PM Narendra Modi is present Chairperson of NITI Aayog.
• Economist Rajiv Kumar to be new Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog.
• Full form of NITI Aayog is National Institution for Transforming India.

4. ICMR, Ministry of Health Sign Pact with S Korea’s IVI

i. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Union Ministry of Health inked a pact with the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), South Korea to collaborate on vaccine research and development.

ii. The ICMR is the apex body in the country for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research. The IVI has 35 signatory countries. With this partnership, India is committing an annual contribution of USD 5,00,000 to IVI and joins Sweden and South Korea as financially contributing signatories to IVI.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Dr. Soumya Swaminathan is the Director General of ICMR.
• Dr. Jerome H Kim is the Director General of IVI, South Korea.

5. 8th World Renewable Energy Technology Congress in New Delhi

i. Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, Renewable Energy and Mines, Shri Piyush Goyal, addressed the 3-day 8th World Renewable Energy Technology Congress in New Delhi.

ii. The annual conference is visualized and planned in the backdrop of India's vision of achieving "Energy Independence and Power for all by 2022". The theme of the conference was "Renewable Energy: What Works".

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• 7th World Renewable Energy Technology Congress & Expo-2016 was held in August 2016.

6. 40% Reservation for Girls at Planned Schools

i. According to Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the government has decided to proffer 40 per cent reservation for girls at 100 Navodaya-type schools and five higher education institutes it plans to set up for minority community students.

ii. A panel formed by The Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF), a government-funded agency, had recommended a three-tier model to tackle educational backwardness among minorities. There are six notified minority communities in the country: Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis and Jains. 

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi is the Minister of Minority Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs.

7. RBI to issue Rs200 notes

i. The government gave its go-ahead to the Reserve Bank of India to issue Rs 200 notes that will ease pressure on lower-denomination currency bills.

ii. The new Rs 200 notes are likely to be in circulation shortly. The exercise of printing Rs 200 denomination notes is being undertaken to further improve the currency situation in the country.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• RBI Headquarters in Mumbai.
• The 24th Governor of RBI is Dr. Urjit Patel.
• In November 2016, the RBI had introduced new banknotes of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 denominations with base colours of stone grey and magenta, respectively.

8. Railway Board Chairman Ashok Mittal Resigns

i. Ashok Mittal, Chairman of the Railway Board submitted his resignation to Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu. His resignation comes in the wake of a number of a high-profile accidents and derailments on the Indian Railways.

ii. Two Indian Rails namely Kaifyat Express and Utkal Express derailed, recently.

9. Ashwani Lohani: New Railway Board Chairman

i. Ashwani Lohani, the CMD of Air India has been named as the new Chairman of Railway Board, following the resignation on A.K. Mittal. Ashwani Lohani, an IRSME cadre  has previously served as DRM, Delhi Division.

ii. Mr. Lohani holds four engineering degrees, has authored two books and is credited with the turnaround of the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation and the India Tourism Development Corporation.

10. Former Manipur CM Rishang Keishing Passes Away

i. Former Manipur Chief Minister and a member of the first Lok Sabha Rishang Keishing passed away following a brief illness. The veteran Congress leader was 96. He served as the Chief Minister of Manipur from 1980 to 1988 and from 1994 to 1997.

ii. Keishing passed away due to multiple organ failures. Keishing, who hailed from Bungpa village in Ukhrul district, was elected to the Lok Sabha in the first parliamentary elections held in 1952.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Shri Nongthombam Biren Singh is the present Chief Minister of Manipur.

11. New Zealand's Oldest Cricketer Tom Pritchard Passes Away

i. New Zealand's oldest cricketer Tom Pritchard has passed away. He was 100. Pritchard claimed 818 wickets across 200 first-class games, including 695 during a decade of service at Edgbaston.

ii. He, however, never played Test cricket. In March 2017, Pritchard became only the third New Zealand first-class cricketer, after John Wheatley and Syd Ward, to reach 100 years of age.

12. Brian Aldiss, British Science Fiction Writer Passes Away

i. Brian Aldiss, one of the most prolific and influential science fiction writers of the 20th century, has died aged 92.
ii. Born in 1925, Aldiss served in India and Burma with the British Army during World War II and later became a bookseller, publishing his first stories in a trade magazine.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Aldiss was awarded the title of Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.

JET STREAMS

JET STREAMS

The JET STREAMS located in the upper troposphere (9 - 14 km) are bands of high speed winds (95-190 km/hr). The term was introduced in 1947 by Carl Gustaf Rossby. Average speed is very high with a lower limit of about 120 Kms in winter and 50 km per hours in summer. The two most important types of jet streams are the Polar Jet Streams and the Subtropical Jet Streams. They are found in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. 

Formation of Jet Stream

Warm air masses in the south meet cool air masses from the north and create temperature and air pressure gradients. In wind speed, the pressure difference between a high and low pressure zone can be very large, thereby creating high winds. Pressure and temperature differences in the jet stream can be large as a global warm front from the south and a cold front from the north meet.

Polar Jet Stream: 

These jet streams are created when cold air from the Polar Regions meets warmer air from the equator. This temperature gradient as a result forms a pressure gradient that increases wind speed. During the winter, these jet streams bring winter storms and blizzards to the United States and in summer, they become weaker and move towards high latitudes. They are found in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

Sub-Tropical Jet Stream: 

These jet streams are formed as warm air from the equator moves towards the poles that form a steep temperature incline along a subtropical front that like the polar jet streams produce strong winds. In Southeast Asia, India, and Africa, these jet streams help bring about the region's monsoon or rainy climate. As these jet streams warm the air above the Tibetan highlands, a temperature and pressure gradient is formed as the air from the ocean is cooler than that above the continental high lands. This as a result forms on-shore winds that produces the monsoon.

Valley winds and Local Winds

Valley winds and Local Winds

Mountain and Valley winds

Mountain-valley breezes are formed by the daily difference of the thermo effects between peaks and valleys. In daytime, the mountain side is directly heated by the sun, the temperature is higher, air expands, air pressure reduces, and therefore air will rise up the mountain side from the valley and generate a valley breeze. The valley breeze reaches its maximum force at around 2 p.m. After this time, the breeze decreases in power and come to a complete stop by sunset. By nightfall, the mountain side region is able to dissipate heat more quickly, due to its higher altitude and therefore temperature drops rapidly. Cold air will then travel down the mountain side from the top and flow into the valley, forming a mountain breeze.

Local Winds :These local winds blow in the various region of the world.

Hot Winds 

• Sirocco - Sahara Desert         
• Leveche -Spain
• Khamsin -Egypt
• Harmattan -Sahara Desert
• Santa Ana - USA
• Zonda -  Argentina
• Brick fielder -Australia

Cold Winds

• Mistral - Spain and France
• Bora - Adriatic coast
• Pampero - Argentina
• Buran -  Siberia

Descending Winds

• Chinook - USA
• Fohn - Switzerland
• Berg - Germany
• Norwester - New Zealand
• Samun - Persia (Iran)
• Nevados - Ecuador

Periodic wind(part 1)

Periodic wind(part 1)

PERIODIC WINDS

Land and sea breezes and monsoon winds are winds of a periodic type. Land and sea breezes occur daily, whereas the occurrence of monsoon winds is seasonal. 

Types of periodic winds:

(a) Monsoon winds

(b) Land and Sea Breeze

(c) Mountain and Valley Breeze

(a) MONSOON WINDS

Monsoons are regional scale wind systems that predictably change direction with the

passing of the seasons. These wind systems are created by the temperature contrasts that exist between the surfaces of land and ocean. 

However, monsoons are different from land and sea breezes both spatially and temporally. Monsoons occur over distances of thousands of kilometers.

Their two dominant patterns of wind flow act over an annual time scale.

Summer Monsoon

During the summer, monsoon winds blow from the cooler ocean surfaces onto the warmer

continents. 

In the summer, the continents become much warmer than the oceans because of a

number of factors. 

These factors include:

(i) Specific heat differences between land and water.

(ii) Greater evaporation over water surfaces.

(iii) Subsurface mixing in ocean basins, which redistributes heat energy through a deeper

layer.

Winter Monsoon

In the winter, the wind patterns reverses, as the ocean surfaces are now warmer. With little solar energy available, the continents begin cooling rapidly as longwave radiation is emitted to space. The ocean surface retains its heat energy longer because of water's high specific heat and subsurface mixing. The winter monsoons bring clear dry weather and winds that flow from land to sea.

(b) LAND AND SEA BREEZES:

A land breeze is created when the land is cooler than the water such as at night and the

surface winds have to be very light. When this happens the air over the water slowly begins to rise, as the air begins to rise, the air over the surface of the ocean has to be replaced, this is done by drawing the air from the land over the water.

A sea breeze is created when the surface of the land is heated sufficiently to start rising of the air. As air rises, it is replaced by air from the sea.

Sea breezes tend to be much stronger and can produce gusty winds as the sun can heat the land to very warm temperatures, thereby creating a significant temperature contrast to the water.

Types of Winds (Part-1)

Types of Winds (Part-1)

TYPES OF WINDS

I. Planetary winds:

Planetary winds are major component of the general global circulation of air. These are known as planetary winds because of their prevalence in the global scale throughout the year. Planetary winds occur due to temperature and pressure variance throughout the world.

The planetary winds are discussed below:

(a) Trade wind

Winds blowing from the Subtropical High Pressure Belt or horse latitudes towards the Equatorial Low Pressure Belt or the ITCZ are the trade winds. In the Northern Hemisphere, the trade winds blow from the northeast and are known as the Northeast Trade Winds; in the Southern Hemisphere, the winds blow from the southeast and are called the Southeast Trade Winds. The weather conditions throughout the tropical zone remain more or less uniform. This belt is subjected to seasonal variation due to northward and southward movement of sun. The equatorward part of the trade wind are humid because they are characterized by atmospheric instability thus causes heavy precipitation.

(b) Westerly Wind

The Westerlies are the prevailing winds in the middle latitudes between 35º and 65º latitude, blowing from the high pressure area in the Sub Tropical High Pressure Belt i.e. horse latitudes towards the sub polar low pressure belt. The winds are predominantly from the south-west to north-east in the Northern Hemisphere and from the north-west to south-east in the Southern Hemisphere. The Westerlies are strongest in the winter season and times when the pressure is lower over the poles, while they are weakest in the summer season and when pressures are higher over the poles. The Westerlies are particularly strong, especially in the Southern Hemisphere, as there is less land in the middle latitudes to obstruct the flow. The Westerlies play an important role in carrying the warm, equatorial waters and winds to the western coasts of continents, especially in the Southern Hemisphere because of its vast oceanic expanse.

(c) Polar Wind

The winds blowing in the Arctic and the Antarctic latitudes are known as the Polar Winds. They have been termed the 'Polar Easterlies', as they blow from the Polar High Pressure belt towards the Sub-Polar Low-Pressure Belts. In the Northern Hemisphere, they blow in general from the north-east, and are called the North-East Polar Winds and in the Southern Hemisphere, they blow from the south-east and are called the South- East Polar Winds. As these winds blow from the ice-capped landmass, they are extremely cold. They are more regular in the Southern Hemisphere than in the Northern Hemisphere.