Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2018

Notes:
From April 1, the petrol pumps in New Delhi started supplying ultra-clean Bharat Stage (BS) VI grade fuel (both petrol and diesel) with an aim to combat the rising levels of air pollution in Delhi-NCR region. With this move, New Delhi has become the India’s first city to switch from BS-IV grade fuels to BS-VI (equivalent to fuel meeting Euro-VI emission norms). The major difference in standards between the existing BS-IV and the new BS-VI auto fuel norms is the presence of sulphur. The newly introduced fuel is estimated to reduce the amount of sulphur released by 80%, from 50 parts per million to 10 ppm. As per the analysts, the emission of Nox (nitrogen oxides) from diesel cars is also expected to reduce by nearly 70% and 25% from cars with petrol engines. Other cities like Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad along with 13 major cities, including Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune, will also switch over to cleaner BS-VI grade fuel from January 2019. However, BS- VI fuel will be rolled out in rest of the country by April 2020.

Notes:
Star weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu from Manipur has clinched the first gold for India at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG-2018) with a power-packed performance in the women’s 48 kg weightlifting category in Gold Coast, Australia on April 5. In a remarkable performance, Chanu smashed the Commonwealth Games record in snatch, pulling off clean lifts in all her three attempts (80kg, 84kg and 86kg). Chanu lifted a total of 196 kg (86 kg in Snatch + 110 kg in Clean and Jerk) to win the gold for country.

Notes:
Kollam Ajith (56), known for his villain roles in Malayalam movies, passed away at Kochi , Kerala on April 5, 2018. He made his silver screen debut with Padmarajan’s 1983 film ‘Parannu Parannu Parannu’. While the actor was mostly seen in villainous and supporting roles, he played the lead role in 1989 film ‘Agnipravesham’. Some of his best-known films are Yuvajanotsavam, Nadodikkattu, No.20 Madras Mail, Nirnayam, Aaraam Thampuran, Olympiyan Anthony Adam and Valliettan among others. Besides his stint in the Malayalam film industry, the actor also starred in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. He also helmed Malayalam films Calling Bell and Pakal Pole.

Notes:
The 9th India-Japan-US trilateral meeting was held in New Delhi on 4 April 2018 at the Joint Secretary/Director General/Assistant Secretary level. The dialogue was aimed at exploring practical steps to enhance cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development, counter-proliferation, counter-terrorism, maritime security, maritime domain awareness and Humanitarian Assistance And Disaster Relief (HADR). The trilateral talks were held in accordance with the directions received from the foreign ministers of the three countries, who had met in New York on 18 September 2017 on the margins of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

Notes:
Teenager Deepak Lather from Haryana has become the youngest Indian weightlifter to claim a Commonwealth Games medal by clinching a bronze in the men’s 69kg weightlifting category at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG-2018) in Gold Coast, Australia on April 6. He lifted a total of 295kg (136kg+159kg). The youngster, competing in his first Commonwealth Games, holds the distinction of being the youngest to hold the national record as well. He held the 62kg category national record at 15. Lather trained at the Army Sports Institute as a diver before being pushed into weightlifting by the coaches there. Earlier, Mirabai Chanu (48kg) and Sanjita Chanu (53kg) won gold medals in the women’s competition and P Gururaja claimed a silver in the men’s 56kg category. The Indian weightlifters have so far claimed four medals in the event.

Notes:
The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has constituted the 10-member committee to frame rules to regulate the functioning of news portals and media websites, including platforms like YouTube. The committee will be headed by Narendra Kumar Sinha, the I&B Secretary. The committee has been mandated to frame and suggest a regulatory framework for online media, news portals, digital broadcasting and entertainment and infotainment (information and entertainment) sites and for media aggregators. Apart from I&B Secretary, the panel will have secretaries of Ministry of Electronics and IT and Home Ministry, and CEO of government’s citizen engagement platform MyGov. It will also have representatives of the Press Council of India, News Broadcasters Association and Indian Broadcasters Federation, and the head of government outreach portal MyGov.

Notes:
Subrata Bhattacharjee, an IFS officer of 1989 batch, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Serbia. Currently, he is Joint Secretary in Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). He is expected to take up his assignment shortly.

Notes:
Weightlifter Sanjita Chanu from Manipur has clinched the India’s second gold at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG-2018) in the women’s 53 kg weightlifting category in Gold Coast, Australia on April 6. She lifted a total of 192kg (84 kg in Snatch + 108 kg in Clean and Jerk).Beside her, Deepak Lather became the youngest Indian weightlifter to claim a Commonwealth Games medal by clinching a bronze in the men’s 69 kg category. With this, India has won 2 Gold, a silver and a gold. India is placed at third place in the Medal’s tally now. Earlier, on April 5, P Gururaja bagged India’s first (silver) medal in the men’s 56 kg weightlifting category and Saikhom Mirabai Chanu clinched the first gold for India in the women’s 48 kg weightlifting category.

Notes:
Actor Raj Kishore (85), Yesteryear Bollywood actor , passed away in Gurgaon on April 6, 2018. He played the role of one of the prisoners in Ramesh Sippy-directed “Sholay”. Some of Raj Kishore’s notable performances were in the films “Padosan”, “Deewar”, “Ram Aur Shyam”, “Hare Rama Hare Krishna”, “Karishma Kudrat Kaa”, “Aasmaan”, “Bombay To Goa” and “Karan Arjun”.

Notes:
The 8th Regional 3R Forum in Asia and the Pacific has started at Brilliant Convention Centre in Indore, Madhya Pradesh on April 9, 2018. It is co-organized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, Japan’s Ministry of the Environment and the United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD). The 4-day forum will provide an attractive Exhibition Program to public, private and startups to showcase their technology, best practices in the area of minimize material use; optimizing resource conservation, wastes minimization and recovery. The tag line of the Forum is “Mission Zero Waste” which is in line the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) of Government of India. The theme of 2018 forum is “Achieving Clean Water, Clean Land and Clean Air through 3R and Resource Efficiency- A 21st Century Vision for Asia-Pacific Communities”. The event was inaugurated by Sumitra Mahajan, Speaker of the Lok Sabha and Hardeep S. Puri, Minister of State (I/C), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on 10th April 2018.