Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2019

Notes:
Professor Najma Akhtar has become the first-ever woman Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia University (JMI) for a period of five years or until she attains the age of 70 years, She is also the first lady vice chancellor of any central university in Delhi. Ms. Akhtar has four decades of academic scholarship in educational leadership. She is known for spearheading international educational administrators’ course for senior officials from 130 countries for more than 15 years at National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) in New Delhi.

Notes:
Shiv Das Meena, an IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre of 1989-Batch, has been appointed as the CMD of National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC). He will succeed Dr. Anoop Kumar Mittal. The NBCC is a blue-chip Government of India (GoI) Navratna enterprise and is headquartered in New Delhi.

Notes:
The International Day of Human Space Flight is observed every year on April 12 to mark the beginning of the space era for mankind, reaffirming the important contribution of space science and technology in achieving sustainable development goals and increasing the well-being of States and peoples, as well as ensuring the realization of their aspiration to maintain outer space for peaceful purposes. On 12th April 1961 the first human space flight was carried out by Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet citizen. This historic event opened the way for space exploration for the benefit of all humanity.

Notes:
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has recently successfully test fired the underdevelopment long range subsonic cruise missile ‘Nirbhay’ from launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, Odisha. It has a operational range of 1000 km and can fly very low to the ground to avoid detection by enemy radar called terrain hugging capability. The state-of-the-art missile is the India’s first indigenously designed and developed long-range sub-sonic cruise missile. It is capable of loitering and cruising at 0.7 Mach at altitude as low as 100 metre and covered the designated target range in 42 minutes and 23 seconds.

Notes:
UN cultural experts have recently offered to help in rebuilding the iconic structure of the famed Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. The cathedral is a universal symbol and the centre of France and its devastation has left people across nations shocked. UNESCO World Heritage Centre Director Mechtild Rossler said that the Cathedral is part of the World Heritage site officially known as “Paris, Banks of the Seine”, inscribed on the World Heritage List, in 1991’. The Notre Dame represents a historically, architecturally, and spiritually, outstanding universal heritage. It is also a monument of literary heritage. The cathedral, where construction began in the 1160s extending for more than a century, is considered to be the finest example of the French Gothic style of architecture, with its groundbreaking use of rib vaults and buttresses, stained glass rosettes and sculpted ornaments.

Notes:
Three Indian student teams won awards in NASA’s 25th edition of Human Exploration Rover Challenge 2019 at the US Space and Rocket Centre in Huntsville, Alabama on April 12-13. The team from KIET Group of Institutions in Ghaziabad won the “AIAA Neil Armstrong Best Design Award” in the college/university division. The Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering from Mumbai won the “Frank Joe Sexton Memorial Pit Crew Award” in the college/university division. Lovely Professional University from Phagwara, Punjab, won the STEM Engagement Award. Nearly 100 teams took part in the competition, hailing from 23 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, as well as a record number of countries, including Bangladesh, Germany, India, Mexico, Morocco and Peru. The competition challenges high school and college teams to design, build and test human-powered roving vehicles inspired by the Apollo lunar missions and future exploration missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

Notes:
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Mission of NASA has discovered its first Earth-size planet – HD 21749c. The newly-discovered planet is about 89% Earth’s diameter. The planet is likely very hot, with surface temperatures perhaps as high as 800 degrees F (427 degrees C). It orbits HD 21749, a K-type dwarf star located 53 light-years away in the southern constellation. It is likely a rocky as it circles its parent star in just 7.8 days. This is the 10th confirmed planet discovered by TESS, and hundreds of additional candidates are now being studied.

Notes:
Richard Powers has been honoured with the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in fiction category for his innovative novel ‘The Overstory’, which shows us the world through the perspective of nature.

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Jaideep Sarkar, a 1987-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, has been appointed as India’s next High Commissioner to South Africa. He is currently serving as India’s ambassador in Bhutan and is expected to take up the assignment shortly. He served in Indian Missions in Tokyo, Seoul and Bangladesh as well. The Union government also appointed Suhel Ajaz Khan as next Ambassador to Lebanon.

Notes:
The World Liver Day (WLD) is observed every year on 19th of April to build awareness and understanding how important liver is for our body. The liver is a complex and one of the biggest organs in the body and plays a very important role. Survival without a liver is impossible. All the food that you ingest goes through your liver. The liver plays an important role in the digestion of the food you eat. The organ is located in the upper right part of the abdomen separated from chest cavity by the diaphragm. It measures about 100grams in weight and 15 cm in length. The organ is responsible for the synthesis of various proteins, coagulation factors, cholesterol, triglycerides and bile including glycogenesis. It is also responsible for detoxifications of drugs, alcohol and control of infections.