Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2019

Notes:
Justice Vikram Nath, seniormost judge of the Allahabad High Court, has been appointed Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. He succeeded acting CJ Justice Chagari Praveen Kumar. A collegium of Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi and judges S A Bobde and N V Ramana recommended the name of Justice Nath as the chief justice of the AP High Court. The new high court for Andhra Pradesh was created on 1st January 2019, following the bifurcation of a combined high court for AP and Telangana, which had been operating from Hyderabad since June 2, 2014, when the two Telugu states got separated.

Notes:
The report on ‘Political Leaders Position and Action on Air Quality in India 2014-2019’ has recently released by a Delhi-based environment body – Climate Trends. As per report, Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur has been ranked 1st on the WHO’s list of 15 most polluted cities. Faridabad (Haryana) stood at 2nd position, followed by Varanasi (UP), which is the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The report claimed that the situation in Varanasi is deteriorating as its MP has focused on beautification and infrastructure. The Air Quality index (AQI) in Varanasi reached an alarming 490 in 2017 and 384 — very poor category — in December 2018. The report also noted that MPs of Lucknow and Kanpur — Home Minister Rajnath Singh and senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi respectively — have mostly been silent on the issue of air pollution in their respective constituencies. Gaya and Patna in Bihar are 4th and 5th on the list, while Delhi is 6th and Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow is 7th. Cities of Agra, Muzaffarpur, Srinagar, Gurugram, Jaipur, Patiala and Jodhpur are also on the WHO list of most polluted cities.

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:
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:
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:
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:
International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket for Good CC has partnered with UNICEF to organise #OneDayforChildren campaign at the Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019. Former England batsman and #OneDay4Children ambassador Nasser Hussain along with all-rounder Chris Woakes launched the tournament-wide campaign focused on bringing the world of cricket together as one team to help build a better world for every child. There will be #OneDay4Children activity throughout all 48 matches of the event, peaking with a day of celebration during the England v India game on 30 June at Edgbaston. The money raised will support UNICEF’s work in cricket playing nations to help children learn to play and be healthy. The tournament will run from 30 May to 14 July. The semi-finals will be played at Old Trafford in Manchester and Edgbaston in Birmingham on 9 and 11 July respectively, while Lord’s will host the final on 14 July. The 10 teams in the tournament will play against each other in a single-league format, with the top four sides after 45 matches to qualify for the two semi-finals.

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:
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:
Nepal has successfully launched its first satellite NepaliSat-1 into space from Virginia in the United States. The satellite was developed by the Nepalese scientists. NepaliSat-1 is a low orbit satellite which will be in the 400-km distance from the Earth’s surface. It will be stationed at the International Space Station (ISS) for a month and then it will be sent to orbit the earth. The satellite will take photographs on a regular basis to gather geographical information of the country. It weighs 1.3 kilograms, making it a small satellite with limited capability. The Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) initiated the launch of the country’s own satellite under the BIRDS project of the Japanese Kyushu Institute of Technology. The BIRDS project has been designed in association with the United Nations (UN) and aims at helping countries launch their first satellite.