Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2018

Notes:
John Isner, an American professional tennis player, has won the 2018 men’s singles Miami Open tennis tournament. In the title clash, the 14th seeded American defeated fourth-placed German Alexander Zverev, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 to win his first ever Masters 1,000 title. With this win, Isner returned to his career-high ranking of world No. 9.

Notes:
Mithali Raj, Indian women’s cricket team captain, has been adjudged ‘Sportsperson of the Year’ at the Telangana Sports Journalists Association annual awards for 2017 in Hyderabad on March 31, 2018. Beside her, Ace shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and P V Sindhu bagged the best senior male and female athletes. Former Indian cricketer V V S Laxman presented ‘best coach of the year’ award to Gopichand, who received this award for the second time in a row. Triple Olympian and former national Hockey player N Mukesh Kumar was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award at the event.

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:
Indo-Korean joint anti-piracy, search and rescue exercise ‘Sahyog-Hyeoblyeog 2018’ was conducted off the Chennai coast, in Tamil Nadu on April 6. The Korean Coast Guard ship ‘BADARO’ took part in the exercise. Indian Coast Guard deployed a Dornier aircraft to carry out sea-air coordinated search along with ICG Shaurya, Rani Abbakka, C-423, C-431 in the exercise. Director General of Indian Coast Guard Rajendra Singh and Commissioner of Korean Coast Guard General Park Kyung reviewed the exercise. The mission of the joint exercise is to develop working level co-operation and enhance inter-operability in the fields of maritime search and rescue, anti-piracy operations.

Notes:
The Global Logistics Summit (GLS-2018) was held in New Delhi on April 5-6 to improve logistics and connectivity which are vital for increasing intra-state and international trade flows. It was organised by the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, along with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and the World Bank Group. The Summit acts as a platform to hold discussions for global experts, academics, government officials and private sector and industry representatives. According to the Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu, 56 new airports will be ready for operation in the next few years.

Notes:
The joint Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) exercise ‘Chakravath 2018’ is organised by the Indian Navy in coordination with the Kerala government at Kochi Airport. The exercise is conducted by the Southern Naval Command from April 5 to 8. The highlight of the 4-day disaster management exercise is Skill Demo, which was conducted in the Mattancherry Channel off the BTP Jetty. The skill demo showcased the capabilities and prowess of the Armed Forces, as well as all state agencies, in tackling an emergency using all available resource.

Notes:
The Centre, Maharashtra Government and the World Bank have signed a $420 million project to help small and marginals farmers in the Marathwada and Vidarbha region of the state. The project will help in increasing climate resilient practices in agriculture and ensuring that farming continues to remain a financially viable activity for them. The project will benefit over 70 lakh farmers cultivating 30 lakh hectares of land in 15 districts. The Maharashtra Project for Climate Resilient Agriculture will be implemented in rural areas largely dependent upon rain-fed agriculture. The project will take up a series of activities at the farm and watershed level and implement micro irrigation systems, expand surface water storage and facilitate aquifer recharge. This would help to a more efficient use of scarce water resources. By adopting climate-resilient seed varieties with short maturity and drought resistance, the project will help the farmers in reducing risks of climate-related crop failure and increase their income.

Notes:
Munin Barua (72), the National award winning Assamese film-maker, has passed away in Guwahati, Assam on April 7, 2018. He is popularly known as Bhaimon da. Recipient of National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Assamese in 2005 for his film ‘Dinabandhoo’, Barua’s popular films include ‘Pratima’, ‘Pita Putro’, ‘Pahari Kanya’, ‘Prabhati Pokhir Gaan’, ‘Hiya Diya Niya’, ‘Daag’, ‘Nayak’, ‘Kanyadaan’, ‘Bidhata’, ‘Barood’, ‘Rong’, ‘Raamdhenu’ and ‘Priyar Priyo’. He was also awarded the state award for best director for his film ‘Nayak’ for the year 2001-02 and had received the Lifetime Achievement Award 2017 from Prag Cine Awards for his immense contributions to Assamese film industry.

Notes:
The Uttar Pradesh Government has launched the Ganga Hariteema Yojana (also known as Ganga Greenery scheme) on 7th April 2018 in 27 districts of the state located on the bank of river Ganga. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has launched the scheme at Allahabad in a function organised on the bank of Sangam the confluence of rivers of Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati. The purpose of the scheme includes enhancing green cover in the catchment areas of the river Ganga and to control the land erosion. Plantation will be carried out in 1 Km areas from the banks of river under the scheme. General people will also be encouraged for plantation on their private lands under ‘One Person One Tree’ slogan. A high power committee under chairmanship of Chief Minister has been set up to monitor the implementation of the scheme. The scheme will be carried out by September 16 Ozone Day of this year. Department of Forest has been nominated as nodal department for the scheme.

Notes:
The World Health Day (WHD) is observed every year on 7 April to mark the anniversary of the founding of World Health Organization (WHO) and to spread awareness about health and well being. As this year (2018) is WHO’s 70th Anniversary year too, the organization has appealed the world leaders to live up to the pledges they made and agreed to in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in 2015 and for taking concrete actions to progress towards Health For All. The 2018 theme “Universal health coverage: everyone, everywhere” is an indication that nations around the world are aspiring to provide higher accessibility of healthcare to their citizens.