Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2017

Notes:
The Union Agriculture Minister Radhamohan Singh has inaugurated India’s first International Centre for Foot and Mouth Disease (ICFMD) at Argul in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on April 1, 2017. The research centre has been constructed in joint collaboration of UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation and Union government’s Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to conduct research on viral disease of cattle and buffaloes. The centre has the facility for safe handling and storage of live Foot and Mouth disease virus that essentially is required for control of the disease. The samples from all over the country will be collected in this research centre to find a cure of the disease. Notably, India is suffering a loss of Rs. 23 thousand crore annually due to Foot and Mouth disease of cattle and buffalos.

Notes:
Rio Olympics silver medallist P V Sindhu from India has won the 2017 Women’s singles India Super Series tournament by defeating reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain in the final by 21-19, 21-16 at Siri Fort Sports Complex in New Delhi. Beside this, Viktor Axelsen of Denmark clinched the men’s singles title of the tournament by defeating Chinese Taipei’s Tien Chen Chou in straight games.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore has topped the 2017 National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings for higher educational institutions in overall ranking. IIT Madras stood at 2nd position, followed by IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). The institutes are ranked by the National Bureau of Accreditation (NBA) based on their teaching and learning resources, graduation outcome, perception, outreach and inclusivity and research productivity. This year, the project has more than 800 new participants and some new categories has also been introduced in medicine and law. Apart from this, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has topped the list in India Rankings 2017 in engineering category, followed by IIT Bombay and Kharagpur. Whereas, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad bagged the first rank in management category while Miranda House, Delhi was ranked the top college. The 2017 India Rankings for higher educational institutions has been released by Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar in New Delhi on April 3, 2017.

Notes:
The 19th edition of Commonwealth Forestry Conference (CFC) has started at Forest Research Institute in Dehradun, Uttarakhand with the theme “Forests for Prosperity and Posterity” on April 3, 2017. About 500 delegations including scientists, academicians, forest officers, representatives of the governments, industries, and research and conservation agencies from India and abroad are attending the 5-day event. The conference is being organized in coordination with the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change along with Commonwealth Forestry Association of United Kingdom. The issues affecting climate change and green cover will be deliberated upon in the conference.

Notes:
Darcus Howe (74), one of the most prominent black activists of his generation in Britain, has recently passed away in London, United Kingdom. He was best known in the UK for his Black on Black series on Channel 4; his current affairs programme, Devil’s Advocate; and his work with Tariq Ali on “Bandung Fil”.

Notes:
The South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Finance Ministers’ meeting has been chaired by the Union Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley in New Delhi on April 3, 2017 to discuss the imperatives of a new way forward for sub-regional economic cooperation among countries under the SASEC program. The meeting has attended by the 7-Finance Ministers from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka apart from officials from these countries and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The event is a unique opportunity for the member countries to discuss and exchange ideas and strive to foster better cooperation in the sub-region. Recently, Myanmar has also joined the SASEC programme as its 7th member.

Notes:
Justice Indira Banerjee has been appointed the new Chief Justice of Madras High Court. With this, Justice Banerjee would be the second woman next to Justice Kanta Kumari Bhatnagar (June – November, 1992) to head the charted court. Prior to this appointment, Banerjee was a judge of the Delhi High Court.

Notes:
Geeta Johri, a 1982-batch IPS officer, has been appointed Director General of Police (DGP) of Gujarat. With this, Johari has become the first woman IPS officer to be appointed for the top job in the state. Presently, she is posted as managing director in the Gujarat Police Housing Corporation, Gandhinagar. She has been controversial for her role in the investigation into the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kauserbi and 2006 Tulsiram Prajapati encounter cases. The decision comes in wake of sudden ouster of Johari’s predecessor P P Pandey who stepped down from the post following a petition in the Supreme Court. Pandey is an accused in Ishrat Jahan encounter case.

Notes:
Aleksandar Vucic, the current Prime Minister of Serbia, has won the 2017 Serbian Presidential election by 55% of votes. He will take office on May 31, 2017. Vucic is also the leader and president of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). The current office holder is Tomislav Nikolic.

Notes:
S.P. Bala Subramanyam, the renowned playback singer, actor and music director, has won the NTR National Film Award for 2012 and Hindi film actor Hema Malini will receive the same for 2013. The NTR National Award is an annual award to recognize people for their lifetime achievements and contributions to the Cinema of India. The award is an honorary Nandi Award in the honour of an Indian Film Actor, director, producer, and politician N.T. Rama Rao who also served as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. It carries a cash prize of Rs. 5 lakh and a citation.