Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2019

Notes:
The 13th edition of Earth Hour 2019 was observed on March 30 with theme “#Connect2Earth” to encourage people across the world to turn off non-essential electric lights for one hour from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. It calls for greater awareness and more sparing use of resources, especially fossil fuels that produce carbon gases and lead to global warming. On this day, the World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature-India made an appeal to citizens to join the Earth Hour 2019 to inspire millions across the country to shift to more sustainable practices and minimize negative impacts on the planet.

Notes:
The Government of India (GoI) has constituted a tribunal to adjudicate if there exists sufficient cause to ban the Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir (JeL) and the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front-Yasin Malik (JKLF-Y) faction. The tribunal will be headed by Justice Chander Shekhar of the Delhi High Court. The decision has been taken by the Union Home Ministry exercising the powers conferred under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967. The JeI and the JKLF-Y were declared as unlawful associations on February 28 and March 22 respectively.

Notes:
Researchers led by Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe in Japan has put a theory speculated by the late Stephen Hawking to its most rigorous test to date, and their results have ruled out the possibility that primordial black holes smaller than a tenth of a millimeter make up most of dark matter. They used the gravitational lensing effect to look for primordial black holes between Earth and the Andromeda galaxy. However, gravitational lensing effects are very rare events because it requires a star in the Andromeda galaxy, a primordial black hole acting as the gravitational lens, and an observer on Earth to be exactly in line with one another. In order to maximise the chances of capturing an event, the researchers used the Hyper Suprime-Cam digital camera on the Subaru telescope in Hawaii, which can capture the whole image of the Andromeda galaxy in one shot. Taking into account how fast primordial black holes are expected to move in interstellar space, the team took multiple images to be able to catch the flicker of a star as it brightens for a period of a few minutes to hours due to gravitational lensing. The team’s results showed primordial black holes can contribute no more than 0.1% of all dark matter mass. Therefore, it is unlikely the theory is true.

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:
The Indian Army has constructed the 260 feet long cable-suspension bridge ‘Maitri Bridge’ over Indus river at Choglamsar village in Leh in a record time of 40 days. It is the longest suspension bridge over the river and is built by combat engineers of the ‘Sahas aur Yogyata’ regiment of the Indian Army’s ‘Fire and Fury Corps’. The name of the bridge, “Maitri”, is meant to symbolise the amity and solidarity between soldiers and locals. The bridge is expected to improve connectivity in remote regions of Leh and Ladakh. It will connect the remote areas of Choglamsar, Stok and Chuchot, which are said to be the largest villages in the region.

Notes:
On April 5, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the National Cardiology Conference 2019 at Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of medical sciences in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The 3-day conference will be organized by Dept of Cardiology in which leading national and international experts from Europe, USA, Japan, Singapore South Korea, Indonesia and Australia will deliberate on the latest topics of Interventional cardiology and cutting edge technology. The conference being held for the first time in Uttar Pradesh offers an opportunity to showcase newer innovations in Cardiology that can help deliver cost-effective cardiology care to patients.

Notes:
Chinese scientists have discovered a possible “death switch” mechanism in plant’s immune system that triggers infected cells to self-destruct, thus limiting the spread of the disease and keeping other parts of the plant healthy. This is as per the findings published in the journal ‘Science’. The discovery provides clues to cell death control and immunity for plants. The researchers hope further research can lead to a new generation of disease-resistant crops that use significantly less pesticide and are more environmentally friendly. The research was done by scientists from Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Genetics and Development Biology. The ‘death switch’ is usually harmless to the plant because it only affects diseased cells, which are a tiny portion of the entire plant.

Notes:
On April 5, Telecom giant Samsung Electronics released the Galaxy S10 5G in South Korea. It is the world’s first available smartphone with built-in fifth-generation communications. Earlier, South Korea became the first country to roll out a super-fast 5G mobile network nationwide, which allows users to download entire movies almost instantaneously. Three South Korean carriers – SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus – — held launch events across Seoul for the Galaxy S10, whose base version costs 1.39 million won ($1,200). Thus, commercializing 5G gives South Korea the chance to build around the technology, which is crucial for the future development of devices such as autonomous vehicles and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Notes:
The Guwahati Railway Station has become the first station in India to obtain the ISO 14001: 2015 certification for implementation of environment management system by carrying out directives issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The station also has amenities such as High-class reserve (VIP) lounge, waiting rooms, AC and non-AC retiring rooms, food courts and sanitation facilities. The certification will be reviewed in 2020 by NF Railway, which mandates stricter environmental norms regarding waste disposal among others to be adhered to Railway Station. ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) is responsible for establishing standard in different areas of activities. There are many types of ISO certification and ISO-14001 is for environment management system as per international norms and was upgraded last in 2015. Hence the certificate is called ISO 14001:2015.

Notes:
Justice Pradeep Nandrajog has recently taken oath as the new Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. He was administered the oath by Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao at the Raj Bhavan. Justice Nandrajog was serving as the Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court since March 2017, following his transfer from the Delhi High Court.