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:
The Kerala football team has won the 72nd edition of Santosh Trophy Football tournament 2018 by defeating West Bengal in the final by 4-2 via penalties at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on April 1. It is their sixth Santosh Trophy Football title. The Kerala team is led by Rahul Raj in the 2018-19 season. Kerala have not won the trophy since 2005 and lost on penalties to Services in the final five years ago at home in Kochi.

Notes:
S. Madhavan (85), the veteran Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader, has passed away at Singampunari village in Sivagangai district of Tamil Nadu on April 3, 2018. He had served in the cabinets headed by late C.N. Annadurai and M. Karunanidhi.

Notes:
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Mid-Term Ministerial Conference 2018 will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan on April 5-6 under the theme “Promoting International Peace and Security for Sustainable Development”. NAM participating states, representatives of observer states and international organizations, countries and institutions, invited as special guests, will take part in the Mid-Term Ministerial Conference. The Indian delegation will be led by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. The Non-Aligned Movement includes 120 states. Seventeen states and 10 international organizations hold observer status of NAM. In 2019, the Republic of Azerbaijan will host the 18th Summit of the NAM and will chair NAM in 2019-2022.

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:
The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), often called Summer Davos, will be held at Boao, a coastal town in the southern island province of Hainan from April 8 to 11 with theme ‘Open and Innovative Asia for a World of Greater Prosperity’. It is modeled after the World Economic Forum (WEF) held annually in Davos, Switzerland. It has its fixed address in Bo’ao, Hainan province, China, although the Secretariat is based in Beijing. The BFA is a non-profit organisation that hosts high-level forums for leaders from government, business, and academia in Asia and other continents to share their vision on the most pressing issues in this dynamic region and the world at large.

Notes:
Steven Bochco (74), the noted television producer and writer, has passed away in Los Angeles, California on April 1, 2018. He was known for creating the groundbreaking police drama ‘Hill Street Blues’.

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:
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:
Kerala has become the first Indian state to adopt a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for brain death certification in government and private hospitals. The Kerala government has brought out SOP as per the high court directive and to mitigate public fear about the process involved in declaring a person as brain dead. According to the SOP, a medical board comprising four doctors — at least one should be from the government service — will be authorised to declare a patient brain dead. As per the Transplantation of Human Organ Act, two experts are required for brain death certification. The SOP also stated that the main condition for declaring a patient brain dead would be that he/she is 100% out of reversible cause of coma. To check any misuse, the SOP defines brain dead and state of coma in detail.