GK & Current Affairs Quiz: April 21, 2017

Notes:
The UN Chinese Language Day is observed every year on April 20 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to raise awareness and respect for the history, culture and achievements of each of the six official languages of the world body. April 20 was chosen as the date for the Chinese language to pay tribute to Cang Jie, a mythical figure who is presumed to have invented Chinese characters about 5,000 years ago. The six official languages of the United Nations are as follows: English, French, Russian, Chinese, Spanish and Arabic.

Notes:
The 2017 BRICS Film Festival will be held in Chengdu, southwest China’s Sichuan Province from June 23 to 27. During the festival, 30 films from BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will be screened, including an anthology by five directors from the aforementioned countries, “Where has the time gone”. The feature film consisting of five 18-minute shorts on the same theme is a joint work by Walter Salles from Brazil, Aleksey Fedorchenko from Russia, Madhur Bhandarkar from India, Jahmil X. T. Qubeka from South Africa, and Jia Zhangke from China. The first BRICS Film Festival was held in New Delhi, India in September 2016.

Notes:
The 2017 Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize has been awarded to Giuseppina Nicolini, Mayor of Lampedusa (Italy) and to the nongovernmental organization ‘SOS Mediterranee (France)’ for their work to save the lives of refugees and migrants and welcome them with dignity. SOS Mediterranee is a civic, European organization for the rescue of people in distress in the Mediterranean. The prize includes a cheque of USD 150,000, a gold medal and a peace diploma. The Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize was created in 1989 to honor individuals or public and private bodies or institutions that have made a significant contribution to promoting, seeking, safeguarding or maintaining peace in conformity with the United Nations’ Charter and the Constitution of UNESCO.

Notes:
The first-ever World Ocean Festival (WOF) will be held in New York City, United States from June 4, 2017, which will be organized by the Global Brian Foundation (GBF). As part of the festival, activists and enthusiasts will take to the streets and waterways of New York City to raise their voices to reverse the declining health of our oceans. The week-long event will galvanize people across the world to bring public attention to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically Goal 14, on conservation and sustainable use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.

Notes:
India has contributed $250,000 to UN election assistance programme for helping countries to hold elections and develop their electoral systems. This is the second Indian contribution of $250,000 to the programmes for electoral assistance and capacity building. The first was made in 2012. The Election Assistance Division (EAD) of United Nations, which was set up in 1991, has helped over 100 countries with their elections. It is based on the principle established in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The division principally provides technical assistance for organising and conducting elections.

Notes:
The cricket icon Kapil Dev will be honoured with the 75th Master Dinanath Mangeshkar award on April 24, 2017 for his outstanding contribution to Indian Cricket. Beside this, Actor Aamir Khan will be honoured with the Vishesh Puraskar for Best Film “Dangal”. Apart from this, legendary actress Vyjayanthimala Bali will be honoured with Master Dinanath Vishesh Puraskar for her achievements in Hindi cinema. ‘Mohan Wagh Award’ for best drama will be awarded to Sunil Barve for “Amar Photo Studio Subak Sanstha”. The event will be organised by Master Dinanath Smruti Pratishthan and Hridayesh Arts

Notes:
The veteran actress Moushumi Chatterjee has been honored with the lifetime achievement award at the 80th Bengal Film Journalists’ Association (BFJA) awards. Apart from this, Bengali film superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee was given the best actor award for his role in “Sankhachil”, while Rituparna Sengupta was given the best actress crown for her role in “Rajkahini” along with Paoli Dam for “Natoker Moto” (2015). A galaxy of seasoned directors – Kaushik Ganguly (“Cinemawala” – 2016), Shiboprasad Mukherjee-Nandita Roy (“Belaseshe” – 2015), Aniruddha Roychowdhury (“Buno Haans” 2014), Srijit Mukherjee (“Rajkahini” – 2015) and Goutam Ghosh (“Sankhachil” – 2015) – were honoured with best direction trophies for their works. The BFJA is the oldest association of film critics in India, founded in 1937 to serve the developing film journalism and film industry.

Notes:
The Sahitya Akademi has recently declared its 2016 Translation Prize in English language to Sri Aniruddhan Vasudevan for his book titled “One Part Woman”. The book is the English translation of Perumal Murugan’s controversial Tamil novel ‘Maadhorubaagan’. Vasudevan will be felicitated with the award along with other winners of the Sahitya Akademi award in 23 languages in a ceremony in June 2016. The prize consists of a casket containing an engraved copper-plaque and a cheque of Rs. 50,000.

Notes:
The All India Radio (AIR) Aizawl has been honoured with the prestigious Lelte Award at an impressive 26th Award Ceremony held at Chanmari YMA Hall in Aizawl. The award is given in recognition of the role played by AIR Aizawl for the overall progress & development of Mizoram and for promotion of Mizo language & literature and for its contribution in the field of healthcare & education and in promotion of brotherhood. The Lelte Special Award was received by D R Lalropuia, Director (E) & Head of Office. Lelte is a popular Weekly Magazine in Mizoram which hit the stand since 1983. The Magazine is instituting “Lelte Awards” aims at recognizing talents and skills of the young and budding Mizo artists for the past 26 years. Besides, the Magazine strives for honouring, promoting and recognizing what’s matter in Mizoram.

Notes:
India and South Korea has recently signed an agreement to firm up bilateral cooperation in defence shipbuilding. The agreement will form the basis of defence cooperation between the two countries in shipbuilding. Under the MoU, the two sides will nominate one shipyard each for this purpose. India has already picked Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) while Korea will make the nomination soon. It will enable HSL to upgrade and modernise its facilities so as to enable it to execute naval projects in a timely manner. The agreement will also be useful for the development of vendors for supply of material.