Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2019

Notes:
In tennis, Roger Federer lifted his fourth ATP Miami Open title with an emphatic 6-1, 6-4 win over defending champion John Isner on 31st March 2019 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, States. It is Swiss player’s 28th Masters title and the 101st overall for a player who has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles.

Notes:
On April 1, ISRO has successfully launched India’s latest EMISAT defence satellite from the Sriharikota spaceport. In today’s mission, the rocket PSLV-C45 flew in a new configuration called “QL”. In this configuration, the rocket is fitted with four longer versions of strap-on motors that provide the vehicle the required additional thrust. Earlier, the rocket used to be in “XL” version with six strap-on motors or two or with no strap-on motors known as core alone configuration. The PSLV-C45 successfully injected EMISAT in a 748-km sun-synchronous polar orbit and 28 international customer satellites in a 504-km orbit. Of these, 24 are from the US, two from Lithuania, and one each from Spain and Switzerland. EMISAT is a satellite built around ISRO’s Mini Satellite-2 (IMS-2) bus weighing about 436 kg. The satellite is intended for electromagnetic spectrum measurement.

Notes:
J Mahendra (79), the veteran filmmaker, screenwriter and actor, has passed away in Chenai, Tamil Nadu on 2nd April 2019. He was known for infusing realism in Tamil cinema and for giving superstar Rajinikanth his career breakthrough with “Mullum Malarum”. He started his journey in the movies as a screenplay writer and made his directorial debut with 1978 film “Mullum Malarum”. The director’s popularity peaked with his movies “Uthiri Pookkal” (1979) and “Nenjathai Killathey” (1980). In the past few years, Mahendran had switched to acting. He played pivotal parts in “Kamaraj” (2004), “Petta” opposite Rajinikanth and Vijay’s “Theri”. He was last seen in Tamil film “Boomerang”, which released on March 8. Mahendran was also the founding member of Blue Ocean Film and Television Academy here.

Notes:
South Korea will launch the world’s first fully-fledged 5G mobile networks on 5th April 2019. Hyper-wired South Korea has a reputation for technical prowess, and Seoul has made the 5G rollout a priority as it seeks to stimulate stuttering economic growth. The superfast communications heralded by fifth-generation wireless technology will bring smartphones near-instantaneous connectivity – 20 times faster than the existing 4G. It is crucial for the future development of devices ranging from self-driving vehicles that send data traffic to one another in real time, industrial robots, drones and other elements of the Internet of Things. 5G’s hyper speed can connect one million devices within a one square kilometre zone simultaneously. Until now, no mobile networks have offered nationwide 5G access. Japan is expected to roll out a limited deployment in 2019 before full services start in time for 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Notes:
In Kerala, the group of science experts of the Hume Centre for Ecology and Wildlife Biology has decided to launch ‘Café Scientifique’ to promote science among public in an interesting way. It is the first such initiative in the state to popularise the subject. It envisages to bring science back into popular culture by demystifying scientific research for the public and empowering non-scientists to comfortably assess science and technology issues, particularly those that impact social policy making. The project is also aimed at making science relevant, powerful and important to the public, especially the younger generations. Here, various topics such as universe, climate change, evolution, genetics and human-animal relations will be discussed in every monthly gathering. It is a grassroots public science initiative based on the French Café Philosophique model.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cut its repo rate under Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) by 25 basis points to 6.0% in its first bi-monthly policy statement of the current financial year FY20, with immediate effect. The move will cheer markets and investors and is the second consecutive rate cut by the RBI. It has also maintained the policy stance neutral and lowered the retail inflation and GDP forecasts. This is the second consecutive rate cut from RBI under new Governor Shaktikanta Das, after a rate cut in February 2019. Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF stands adjusted to 5.75%, and the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 6.25%. These decisions are in consonance with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4% within a band of plus or minus 2% while supporting growth.

Notes:
A music and poetry festival titled ‘Jashn-e-Ittihaad’ was held at the Jamia Milia Islamia central university in New Delhi on April 6, 2019. The fest is one of a kind event where people will get to enjoy soulful Hindi and Urdu poetry, music and performances that will not only make them feel good but will also spread awareness about unity and integrity. The musical evening opened with the national anthem and a dance performance by young artistes Yuvraaj Katiyal and Mahira Katyal, followed by a performance by Irshad Kamil and his band — The Ink Band. Mushaira by noted poets like Munawwar Rana, Waseem Barelvi, Shakeel Jamali, Iqbal Ashhar, and Madan Mohan Danish among others brought the evening to an end. The day-long was organised by Delhi-based entertainment company Question Associates Pvt Ltd.

Notes:
Sydney Brenner (92), a South African-born biologist, has passed away in Singapore on April 5, 2019. He helped decipher the genetic code and his research on a roundworm sparked a new field of human disease research. Brenner shared the Nobel Prize in medicine in 2002 for his contribution to work unraveling how genes control cell division. He and two colleagues, John Sulston and Robert Horvitz, traced a transparent roundworm known as C. elegans to determine how cells divide and create something new. The findings on programmed cell death were key to understanding how cancers develop and laid the groundwork for making C. elegans a major model organism in research.

Notes:
On 7th April 2019, Garbine Muguruza of Spain has successfully defended her Monterrey Open title when Victoria Azarenka retired injured from her first WTA singles final in three years. Muguruza was leading the match between the two former world number ones 6-1 3-1 when Azarenka decided she was unable to continue because of an injury to her right leg. The Monterrey Open is a professional women’s tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. The event is affiliated with the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), and is part of the International tournaments on the WTA Tour.

Notes:
A bench headed by National Green Tribunal (NGT) Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel has constituted a committee to look into the alleged erosion of Yamuna floodplain due to movement of heavy vehicles in Haryana’s Sonipat district. The directions came when the green panel was hearing a plea which said that the policy of permitting heavy vehicles in the embankments of the river is “destructing the ecology”. The committee will comprise Principal Secretary of the Haryana Irrigation and Water Resources Department, Member Secretary of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board and Director of the Mines and Geology Department. The tribunal said the committee would submit a joint report within one month by e-mail so that matter can be taken up before the monsoon.