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:
On April 12, the Russia government announced its decision to confer the Order of St Andrew the Apostle – the highest state decoration of the country on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The decoration is being given to Mr Modi for his exceptional services in promoting special and privileged strategic partnership between the Russian Federation and India and friendly relations between the Russian and Indian people. The Order was established in 1698 by Tsar Peter the Great, in honour of Saint Andrew, the first apostle of Jesus and patron saint of Russia. This is the 7th international award conferred on Mr Modi since he became the premier in 2014. The others are the Zayed Medal of the UAE (2019), the Seoul Peace Prize, UN Champions of the Earth Award, Grand Collar of the State of Palestine (all in 2018), Amir Abdullah Khan Award of Afghanistan and King Abdullaziz Sash of Saudi Arabia (both in 2016). Four of the awards are from Islamic states.

Notes:
On 13th April 2019, the nation paid homage to the martyrs of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre on the centenary of the incident. On this day in 1919, hundreds of innocent Indians were killed by troops under British Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer, during a peaceful meeting on Baisakhi at the park in Amritsar, Punjab. Here, the civilians had assembled for a peaceful protest to condemn the arrest and deportation of two national leaders, Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew. The massacre is one of the darkest chapters of India’s freedom struggle against the British occupation. The official death toll by the British government was put at 379, but Indian figures put the toll at closer to 1,000. Even after 100 years, the British government has only regretted the massacre but stopped short of apologizing for the killing of so many innocent people.

Notes:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni has become the first-ever captain to register 100 wins in Indian Premier League (IPL) history after Chennai Super Kings (CSK) defeated Rajasthan Royals by 4 wickets at the Sawai Man Singh stadium in Jaipur on 11th April 2019. MS Dhoni is the most experienced captain in the Indian Premier League. He has led Chennai Super Kings in 152 matches. In 2016, Dhoni led Rising Pune Supergiant in 14 matches. Overall, MS Dhoni has played 182 matches in the IPL and scored 4172 runs at an average of 41.30 with 21 fifties (19 for CSK and 2 for RPS) and 121 dismissals as wicketkeeper.

Notes:
Forbes has recently compiled a first-ever list of the World’s Best Bank 2019 in terms of customer services and technological advancements. The private lender, HDFC Bank, was ranked at the top of the Forbes list of Indian banks, followed by ICICI Bank, DBS, Kotak Mahindra Bank and IDFC Bank. However, India’s largest public sector bank, the State Bank of India (SBI), did not even make it to top 10 of the list and was ranked 11th by the customers.Forbes had partnered with Statista, a market research company, to measure the best banks in 23 countries. Interestingly, this survey ignored any financial performances like P&L statements and balance sheets in favour of a customer’s opinion. The survey compiled data from around 40,000 customers around the world for their opinions on their banking relationships. The banks were rated on the basis of 5 key attributes – trust, digital services, financial advice and fees.

Notes:
In a major attempt to build resilience against the impact of climate change, the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) and the Space Applications Centre (SAC) of ISRO have joined together to map, validate and protect smaller wetlands in the coastal region aimed at restoring them through coastal livelihood programmes. Both the organizations will develop a mobile app and a centralised web portal with a complete database of wetlands that are smaller than 2.25 hectares in the country. Such smaller wetlands cover an area of more than five lakh hectares across the country, while Kerala having as many as 2,592 smaller wetlands. As per the MoU, the two scientific institutes aim to identify and demarcate wetlands and restore the degraded wetlands through suitable livelihood options like coastal aquaculture. The app will be used for real-time monitoring of the wetlands and giving advisories to stakeholders and coastal people. The collaborative move is part of a national framework for fisheries and wetlands recently developed by the National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) project of CMFRI.

Notes:
India’s first-of-its-kind ‘Voter Park’ has recently inaugurated in Gurugram, Haryana to increase voter awareness and educating people about the electoral process. At the park, voters will get information about the polling process and the history of elections in the country. The purpose of establishing Voter Park was also to motivate eligible people to vote in the Lok Sabha election so that they can contribute to the progress of the country. A ‘Selfie Point’ has also been set up in the park, where people can click selfies displaying the indelible ink mark on their finger after casting their vote.

Notes:
The 8th edition of Home Expo India 2019 began at India Expo Centre and Mart in Greater Noida on April 16. It covers sectors with maximum thrust and growth potential in home decor, furnishing, furniture, flooring and textiles. About 500 companies in permanent marts will be exhibiting their collection under these categories. The 3-day exhibition has been organized by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts.

Notes:
Sri Lanka has launched its first satellite ‘Raavana-1’ into space from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s East Shore. It weights around 1.05 kg and the lifespan of the satellite is around one and a half years. The launch marks Sri Lanka’s entry into the global space age. Under BIRDS project, the satellite was designed and built at the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan by two Sri Lankan research engineers. Its camera mission is to capture images of Sri Lanka and its neighbouring countries.

Notes:
The critically endangered ‘Kakapos’ – the world’s fattest species of parrot – have enjoyed a record breaking breeding season, according to New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC). This year, 76 chicks have been hatched under the DOC’s conservation scheme, with 60 expected to reach adulthood. This will significantly boost the population which has grown to 147 adults since a small number of the plump green, yellow and black birds were discovered in 1970. The kakapo is an “unusual” parrot as the females control the breeding process and only mate every two to four years when their favourite fruit grows in New Zealand’s Rimu trees – the period is known as a “mast year”. New Zealand’s kakapo recovery programme is so tightly monitored that although they remain in the wild, each one has a radio transmitter attached to its body and there are monitoring systems embedded in their nests. It is claimed that kakapo is probably one of the most intensively managed species in the world.