Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2019

Notes:
Zuzana Caputova, a liberal environmental activist and a political newcomer, has been elected as the first female President of Slovakia. She framed the election as a struggle between good and evil. With 58% of the vote, Caputova edged out European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic, a diplomat backed by the county’s governing Smer-Social Democracy party. She is set to take office on June 15, after the tenure of incumbent Slovak President Andrej Kiska finishes.

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:
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:
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:
Batman will be first inductee into the Comic-Con Museum’s Character Hall of Fame. The honor was announced during the “Happy Birthday Batman!” panel at WonderCon on March 30, when Batman turned 80. The ceremony will take place at the Federal Building in San Diego’s Balboa Park — which is the future site of the Comic-Con Museum, on 17th July 2019. The ceremony will be accompanied by an exhibit of Batman-themed memorabilia and related props and will feature appearances by celebrities and creators whose careers have interacted with the Dark Knight across the years. Batman first appeared in the ‘Detective Comics No. 27’ published on March 30, 1939, created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger.

Notes:
The United States has approved the sale of 24 multi-role MH-60 Romeo Seahawk helicopters to India under its Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program at an estimated cost of $2.4 billion. The multi-mission helicopters can detect, track and attack submarines and surface ships at sea. They are designed to operate from frigates, destroyers, cruisers and aircraft carriers. Thus, these are considered the world’s most advanced maritime helicopters. The choppers will provide the Indian defence forces with the capability to perform anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare missions along with the ability to perform secondary missions including vertical replenishment, search and rescue, and communications relay. Hence, the Lockheed Martin-built helicopters would replace India’s aging fleet of British-made Sea King helicopters. The proposed sale will support US foreign policy & national security by helping to strengthen the US-Indian strategic relationship and to improve the security of a major defensive partner.

Notes:
The book titled “Kundan: Saigal’s Life & Music” has been penned by Sharad Dutt, documentary filmmaker and former DDG of Doordarshan. The genius of legendary singer K L Saigal, his timeless compositions and the golden era of Indian cinema have been brought alive in a book. The book has been trans-created in English by Jyoti Sabharwal of Stellar Publishers and will be released on April 4, the 115th birth anniversary of Saigal. Some of Saigal’s all time hits are ‘Jab dil hi toot gaya’, ‘Ek bangla bane nyara’, ‘Dukhake din aab bitat nahin’, ‘Duniyamen hun duniyaka talabgaar nahin hun’ and ‘So ja rajkumari so ja’.

Notes:
For the second successive year, Telangana has been ranked first in e-learning training programme of Department of Personal and Training (DoPT) of the Government India. In FY 2018-19, Dr. MCR HRD Institute had enrolled over 20,000 field staff in different districts of the State to impart training on 12 soft skill modules and three domain-specific modules on the RTI, office procedures, and finance and accounts, apart from Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The institute is also mentoring Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, J&K, Odisha, Uttarakhand, and Gujarat to guide trainers for e-learning training programme and develop modules in regional languages to spread the Comprehensive Online Modified Modules on Induction Training (COMMIT) programme as a national mission.

Notes:
The International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action is observed every year on April 4 to raise awareness about landmines, explosive remnants of war, and progress toward their eradication. The 2019 Theme is “United Nations Promotes SDGs – Safe Ground – Safe Home”.

Notes:
The State of the Global Air 2019 report has recently released by the Boston-based Health Effects Institute (HEI). The report revealed that 1.2 million Indians lost their lives due to exposure to unsafe air in 2017. Now, in India, air pollution is the third-highest cause of death among all health risks, ranking just above smoking. This is a combined effect of outdoor fine particles PM2.5, ozone and household (indoor) air pollution. In 2017, exposure to PM 2.5 pollution was found to be the third leading risk factor globally for Type 2 diabetes-related deaths and disability after high blood sugar and excessive body weight. Due to this combined exposure South Asians including Indians are dying early — their life expectancy has reduced by over 2.6 years. In India, early deaths are linked to respiratory diseases, heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and diabetes that are influenced by air pollution.