Current Affairs April 24, 2019
In this post, GKToday presents Current Affairs of April 24, 2019 in Short Notes form for preparation of IBPS, Banking, CLAT, SSC, Railway, UPSC, IAS/PCS, UPPSC, BPSC, MPPSC, RPSC, TNPSC, MPSC, KPSC and all other competitive examinations of India.
1. In Football, the Services lifted the 2019 Santosh Trophy by defeating Punjab 1-nil in the final at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana on 21st April. In the first half, both the teams were goal-less. In the second half, Services scored the lone goal and held on till the final whistle. With this victory, the side has ended the campaign without losing a single match.
2. The Indian Navy has launched guided missile destroyer INS Imphal at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders in Mumbai on April 20. It’s the third state-of-the-art warship built as part of Project 15B, in which ships are built to carry and operate two multiple role helicopters. INS Imphal has a length of 163m and 17.4m at the beam and a displacement of 7.300 tonnes, which are propelled by four gas turbines to achieve speeds in excess of 30 knots. Under Project 15B, the Navy had launched first ship ‘INS Vishakhapatnam’ in April 2015, while the second ship ‘INS Mormugao’ was launched in September 2016.
3. In Ukraine, comedian and political newcomer Volodymyr Zelensky has apparently secured a landslide victory in the 2019 Presidential election. Mr Zelensky is best known for starring in a satirical television series ‘Servant of the People’ in which his character accidentally becomes Ukrainian president. The pressure will now be on Mr Zelensky to demonstrate that he knows what he is doing. Throughout the election campaign, he avoided serious interviews and discussions about policy - preferring instead to post light-hearted videos to social media.
4. The first edition of Naval Commanders’ Conference - 2019 is scheduled to begin in New Delhi from April 23. The 3-day conference is the apex forum within the Service for interaction between the Naval Commanders. The Chief of the Naval Staff, with the Commanders-in-Chief, will review major operational, logistics, training and administrative activities undertaken during the previous six months and deliberate upon the course to be steered in the ensuing six months. The Conference assumes greater significance in the backdrop of Pulwama associated events that have brought country’s defence under sharper focus and will provide the higher naval leadership a forum to discuss the emerging challenges in the maritime domain. The conference also serves as a platform for institutionalised interaction of Naval Commanders with senior Government Officials.
5. Amar Paul (97), the legendary Bengali folk singer, has passed away in Kolkata on April 20, 2019. Born on May 19, 1922, at Brahmanbaria in undivided Bengal in an area now in Bangladesh, Paul had started taking music lessons from his mother Durgasundari Paul. Afterwards, he learnt classical music from Ayat Ali Khan and folk music from Mani Chakraborty and Suren Chakraborty. He surfaced as a folk singer for the All India Radio in the early 1950s. Paul lent his voice in a number of films including Satyajit Ray's "Hirak Rajar Deshe". He has penned several books on folk songs of Bengal and received accolades from various academies around the world.
6. The UAE Cabinet has recently adopted a new National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031 at the Presidential Palace in Abu Dhabi. Its aims at positioning the UAE as a global leader in artificial intelligence by 2031 and to develop an integrated system that employs artificial intelligence in vital areas in the country. The strategy includes eight objectives and a number of initiatives, aimed at employing artificial intelligence in vital areas such as education, government services and the community wellbeing. The strategy implementation is overseen by the Emirates Council for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transactions, in coordination with a number of local and federal entities.
7. Malayalam film Bhayanakam (Fear) directed by Jayaraj has won the best cinematography award at the 2019 Beijing International Film Festival (BIFF). The cinematography was done by Nikihil S Praveen. The film had also won the best cinematography award at the 65th National Film Awards. The film portrays the visits of First World War veteran to a small village in the backwaters of Kerala’s Kuttanand as a postman during the World War-II. He shares with the families the good and bad news of the soldiers who took part in the war. According to Jayaraj, about 600 soldiers from Kerala died during the World War-II. The festival also screened five Indian films, including Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali, Apur Sansar, Aparajito, the romantic comedy Love Per Square Foot, the 2018 Indian romantic comedy and the thriller Ittefaq.
8. Ravinder Kumar Passi has been appointed to the post of chairman of the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH). He succeeded O P Prahladka. EPCH is a non-profit organisation, with an objective to promote, support, protect, maintain and increase the export of handicrafts.
9. The International Labour Organization (ILO) has recently released the report titled 'The Safety and Health at the Heart of the Future of Work - Building on 100 years of experience'. In it, the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy which killed thousands of people is among the world's "major industrial accidents" of the 20th century (after 1919). In December 1984, at least 30 tons of methyl isocyanate gas was released from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in the Madhya Pradesh capital and it affected more than 600,000 workers and nearby inhabitants. Apart from the Bhopal gas tragedy, its list included the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion in the erstwhile Soviet Union, the 2011 Fukushima disaster and the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2013, which killed 1,132 people.
10. The World Earth Day (WED) is observed every year on 22nd of April to demonstrate support for environmental protection. This is a day which is meant to emphasise the need to protect the planet and preserve its environment. The day also marks the anniversary of the Modern Environmental Movement, started in 1970. The 2019 theme is 'Protect our species', which aims to draw attention to the rapid extinction of species across the world.
