Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2019

Notes:
IIT-Madras has recently collaborated with American conglomerate General Electric (GE) to set up India’s first ‘Cold Spray’ SMART (Surface Modification and Additive Research Technologies) Laboratory, which will develop advanced services technology for aircraft engine components. This is the first of its kind High-Pressure Cold Spray (HPCS) facility that is being installed in any academic institute in India. The laboratory consists of a state-of-the-art HPCS equipment has been imported from the famous company Plasma Giken of Japan. The project is funded under ‘Uchchatar Avishkar Yojana’ (UAY) of the Government of India, which is intended to boost collaboration between academia and private sector. The Union Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) was the key investor along with the Department of Science and Technology (DST), IIT Madras and GE. The Cold Spray is an emerging technology for advanced manufacturing and services and will be utilised to co-develop processes for aero-engine applications. This smart technology has application temperatures that are much lower than other thermal-spray and welding processes, which means the distortion and stresses associated with those repair techniques are avoided; leading to longer asset life.

Notes:
India’s flagship programme, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) (or Namami Gange) was awarded the distinction of “Public Water Agency of the Year” by Global Water Intelligence at the Global Water Summit (GWS) in London on April 9. The GWS was the major business conference for the water industry worldwide. The coveted awards recognize excellence across the entire international water industry and reward those initiatives in the water, wastewater, and desalination sectors which bring remarkable improvements in the lives of people. The Namami Gange programme an integrated conservation mission with a budget of Rs 20,000 crore to accomplish the objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of the Ganga. The project covers 8 states and seeks to fully connect all 1,632 Gram Panchayats along the Ganga to a sanitation system by 2022. Its mission aims at providing comprehensive and sustainable solutions for major pollution hot spots along the stretch of 97 towns and 4,465 villages on the Ganga stem.

Notes:
To empower AGRI, MSME segment and small businesses, the State Bank of India (SBI) has signed the first co-origination loan agreement with PAISALO Digital Limited. It is the first agreement of its kind in the country that SBI has signed. This will introduce a platform for the last mile customer. Here, the loan ticket is designed at Rs 10,000 to Rs 2 lakh. The company expects to disburse 200,000 loan applications in FY20. The move is to enable the customers to reach with ease and use the platform for smooth loan disbursal and repayment easily. PAISALO Digital Ltd is a systemically important non-deposit taking NBFC registered with the Reserve Bank of India and has been in operations since 1992.

Notes:
Scientists have recently discovered new species of ancient human excavations in Philippines. This newly identified species named Humo Luzonensis after Luzon Island, where bones and teeth from individuals of this species were excavated from Callao Cave. The small size of the bones suggests this archaic human would have been shorter than 4ft tall – possibly even shorter than another ancient species – Homo floresiensis. The specimens of H. luzonensis were dated to 50,000 and 67,000 years old (Late Pleistocene period), which suggests that the species was alive at the same time as several other hominins belonging to the genus Homo, including Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, Denisovans and Homo floresiensis. Thus, this discovery claims finding to be the earliest direct evidence human presence in Philippines.

Notes:
The world’s foremost Artificial Intelligence (AI) Summit will be held at the Dubai World Trade Centre in UAE from April 30 to 1st May, 2019. The aim of the inaugural ‘AI Everything (AIE)’ is to empower global dialogue on the future of government, business and society. The two-day event will bring together world leaders to define the underlying pillars of governance, business and society – augmenting the world’s happiness. It will be hosted by the UAE National Programme for Artificial Intelligence, with the support of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and in strategic partnership with Smart Dubai. The AIE will unravel real-world use cases across industries, and forge collaborations and partnerships, hosting over 130 influential speakers.

Notes:
In Kerala, people are celebrating the Malayalam New Year “Vishu” with traditional gaiety and fervor on 15th April 2019. The word Vishu means ‘equal’ in Sanskrit, and it marks the sun’s transit to the Mesha rashi (the first astrological sign in the zodiac). The day begins with people taking Kani darshanam (or Vishu kani) soon after waking up. The elders or women in the family prepare the Vishu Kani a day before by using edible stuff like rice grains, cucumber, pumpkin, coconut, mangoes, betel leaves, flowers, coins and fruits and a metal vessel called “urali” in front of a mirror that reflects the image of their deity. A special yellow flower named Konna is a must in the Kani. Elders gift money ( kaineettam ) to younger members. They also exchange gifts with their loved ones and wear new clothes. On this day, devotees visit temples and offer their prayer to Lord Krishna, who is worshipped on this day. People also visit Sabarimala Ayyappan Temple, Guruvayur Sree Krishna temple or the Kulathupuzha Sree BaalaShastha Temple to have a ‘Vishukkani Kazhcha’viewing in the early hours of the day. And like all other festivals, Vishu is incomplete without an elaborate meal. There will a delicious meal -the Sadya which consists of different varieties of preparations.

Notes:
Bibhu Kalyan Nayak from Bhubaneswar has become the first Indian to be appointed Chair of International Hockey Federation (FIH) Health and Safety Committee by the world governing body. He will serve a two-year term lasting till the first executive board meeting after Congress 2020. He has extensively trained in Sports Traumatology and Sports and Exercise Physiology from National Institute of Sports Medicine at Havana, Cuba & National Sports Centre at Madrid, Spain. Nayak also served as a medical officer for the 2018 Men’s World Cup. He was commissioned in the Army Medical Corps of the Indian Army in 1995 and has worked in the Army Sports Institute, Pune for six years.

Notes:
Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh has been sworn-in as the new prime minister of the State of Palestine by President Mahmoud Abbas at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The 18th Palestinian government since the establishment of the Palestinian Authrity in 1995 was sworn in according to a presidential decree issued by Abbas. The State of Palestine is a de jure sovereign state in Western Asia claiming the West Bank and Gaza Strip with Jerusalem as the designated capital, although its administrative center is currently located in Ramallah. It is recognized by 136 UN members and since 2012 has a status of a non-member observer state in the United Nations – which implies recognition of statehood. It is a member of the Arab League, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, G77, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and other international bodies.

Notes:
By using data obtained by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, the researchers discovered deep lakes (more than 300 feet, or 100 meters) filled with methane on Saturn’s moon Titan. The team also found “phantom lakes” that fill and empty periodically. It must be noted that Titan is the only known body in our solar system other than Earth with a liquid on its surface. But rather than a water cycle, it has a methane and ethane cycle. The new findings represented further evidence about Titan’s hydrological cycle, with liquid hydrocarbons raining down from clouds, flowing across its surface and evaporating back into the sky. This is comparable to Earth’s water cycle. Titan, with a diameter of 5,150 km, is the solar system’s second largest moon, behind only Jupiter’s Ganymede. It is bigger than the planet Mercury. The research was published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Notes:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) have jointly launched a project called “Learning Coin”. It is a private blockchain-based coin and only accessible within IMF and the World Bank to help both multinational agencies learn about the merits of blockchain. The coin project has been launched in order to conduct research and learn more about the core technologies that have been used to implement cryptographic assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).