Current Affairs Quiz - April 2022

Notes:
Every year on April 21, the Government of India celebrates ‘Civil Services Day’, to commemorate the day in 1947 when Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the first Home Minister of Independent India, addressed the probationers of Administrative Services Officers in Delhi.
In the famous speech, he referred to public workers as the “steel frame of India”. The first such celebration took place on April 21, 2006. ‘The Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration’ is awarded during the occasion annually.

Notes:
Dr. Suman K Bery has been appointed new Vice Chairperson of NITI Aayog. He will succeed Dr. Rajiv Kumar, as per the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.

Dr. Suman K Bery had served as Director-General of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) a leading non-profit policy research institution. He also served as a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, National Statistical Commission and Reserve Bank of India’s Technical Advisory Committee on Monetary Policy.

Notes:
The Association of World Election Bodies ‘A-WEB’ was established 2013 in Song-do, South Korea. It is the first global organization of election management bodies, and consists of 118 EMBs as members and 20 Regional associations as associate members.
A delegation led by Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra visited South Africa and Mauritius and held meetings with their Election Commission as well as interactions with the large NRI community in the two countries. He urged the members of Indian community to register as overseas voters.

Notes:
Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has provided the approval for Rs 600 crore to the Maharashtra government under the SIDBI Cluster Development Fund. The state will revive and upgrade various ITIs /polytechnics to create skilled manpower.
SIDBI is the principal financial institution engaged in the promotion, financing and development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.

Notes:
Under the Amrit Sarovar initiative, 75 water bodies will be developed and rejuvenated in each district as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
India’s first ‘Amrit Sarovar’ has been completed in Rampur’s Gram Panchayat Patwai, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Seventy-five ponds in Rampur were selected to be developed as Amrit Sarovar.

Notes:
Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurated the ‘Kisan Bhagidari-Prathmikta Hamari’ Campaign.
The week-long campaign is being organized under ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’. Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in association with other Ministries will organize awareness activities about its schemes and other allied Ministries. Kisan Mela will be organised at all Krishi Vigyan Kendras across the country tomorrow in association with Agricultural Technology Management Agency, ATMA.

Notes:
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released ‘Space Equity action plan’ to make space more accessible. It aims to provide opportunity in underserved and underrepresented communities in the federal government.
In 2021, NASA spent USD 19.6 billion on goods and services, but only 10% of the total expenditure was provided to small disadvantaged businesses.

Notes:
‘Pranahita Pushkaralu’ is a mega river festival dedicated to worshipping the Pranahita, a tributary of the River Godavari, in Telangana.
The festival was celebrated for the first time following the creation of Telangana state. It started at the venues created on the shores of Pranahita. Over 6 lakh devotees from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka states took part in the 12-day long festival.

Notes:
SpaceX Dragon capsule named Endeavour and the Ax-1 crew launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on April 8 becoming the first-ever all-private crewed mission to visit the station.
The Ax-1 mission has left the International Space Station (ISS) and is headed back to Earth. The mission was organized by Houston Company Axiom Space and is led by López-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut.

Notes:
The Hubble Space Telescope has recorded an image of two merging galaxies in the VV-689 system that appears to be shaped like wings.
The interaction between the two galaxies is symmetrical, and the image appears to resemble wings. The two galaxies are currently in the middle of a collision and are nicknamed Angel Wing. Other galactical alignments only appear to overlap because of the angle they are viewed from on the earth.