General Awareness Questions

American startup Planet Labs, that launches small satellites into orbit and sells the imagery, has announced its acquisition of Google's 'Terra Bella' satellite business. As part of the agreement, 60 Google employees will join the startup founded by ex-NASA scientists. Terra Bella, was acquired by Google in 2014 for $500 million and that time it was known as Skybox Imaging.

Ashis Nandy traced the roots of colonialism's mandate to absolutize the relative differences between cultures to the cultural arrogance of Enlightenment Europe.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley was on 13 March 2017 given the additional charge of the defence ministry after Manohar Parrikar resigned+ to take on the new role of Goa chief minister.

‘E-Cinepramaan’ is the name of the online film certification system (OFCS) that was launched by Union Information & Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu on 27 March 2017.

– This online system is being seen as a big step towards making the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) paperless and transparent, enabling effective monitoring and real-time progress tracking for applicants.

– E-Cinepramaan will enable producers to track the status of their application online and would be inform them through SMSes and e-mails about any required action. The system also has inbuilt alerts to ensure that time-limits are adhered to.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh launched the web-based application e-FRRO (e-Foreigners Regional Registration Office) scheme under which foreigners can avail, various visa and immigration-related services online. This will facilitate hassle-free travel to India for foreigners.

India TV chairman and editor-in- chief Rajat Sharma will be the new president of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) for 2017-18.

Subhash Chandra Khuntia, a 1981-batch Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer who was a former Karnataka Chief Secretary, has been appointed as Chairman of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).

Junagadh