Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2019

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:
Indian captain Virat Kohli has been named as the Leading Cricketer of the year for an unprecedented third year in a row by the 2019 edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack. Kohli was picked as one of the Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year, along with Tammy Beaumont, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran and Rory Burns. The Indian skipper is only the third cricketer ever to have won the award more than three times after Don Bradman (10 times) and Jack Hobbs (8 times). India’s Smriti Mandhana has been named as the women’s Leading Cricketer in the World for 2018 while Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan was named the Leading Twenty20 Cricketer for the second consecutive year. Wisden has been listing out Cricketers of the Year since 1889 and it is considered as one of the more prestigious awards in the sport.

Notes:
The National Safe Motherhood Day (NSMD) is observed every year on 11th of April to raise awareness about the proper healthcare of women and maternity facilities to pregnant and lactating women. This day also raise awareness for the prevention of child marriages that may be an indirect cause of maternal deaths. The 2019 theme is “Midwives for Mothers”. India is the first country in the world to have officially declared a National Safe Motherhood Day.

Notes:
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has recently released a State of World Population 2019 report. The report stated that India’s population grew at an average annual rate of 1.2% between 2010 and 2019 to 1.36 billion, which is more than double the annual growth rate of China. According to the report, in India, total fertility rate per woman was 5.6 in 1969, dropping to 3.7 in 1994 and 2.3 in 2019. India also recorded an improvement in life expectancy at birth. The life expectancy at birth in 1969 was 47 years, growing to 60 years in 1994 and 69 years in 2019. As per India’s population composition in 2019, 27% of the population was in the age bracket of 0-14 years and 10-24 years each, 67% in the 15-64 age bracket and 6% was of the age 65 and above. The report noted that Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in the country dropped from 488 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1994 to 174 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2015.

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:
Director General at Life Sciences – DRDO, Dr A K Singh has been conferred with Lifetime Achievement Award-2019 during 4th APJ Abdul Kalam Innovation Conclave at Chandigarh University, Mohali. He is recognized for his rich contribution in the field of life sciences, aerospace and aeronautics. The DST scientist has more than 18 patents and has contributed in more than 57 research publications at an international and national level. The conclave was organised by the university to mark World Creativity and Innovation Day (WCID).

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:
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 World Allergy Week (WAW) is an annual initiative of the World Allergy Organization (WAO) to raise awareness of allergic disease and related disorders and advocate for the provision of training and resources in the diagnosis, management, and prevention of these diseases and asthma, which are rising in prevalence around the world. The 2019 theme is “The Global Problem of Food Allergy”. In 2019, the WAW ran from 7th to 13th April and the focus area was food allergy.

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.