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:
M.L. Srivastava, Joint Secretary (Akademies) of Ministry of Culture, has been appointed the protem Chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi. On the recommendation of the Minister of Culture, the President has appointed him with immediate effect. He will continue to hold the office till a regular Chairman is appointed. He succeeded CS Krishna Setty. The new chairman is likely to be appointed within 15 days.

Notes:
India is now the second-largest mobile phone producer in the world after China, as per information shared by Indian Cellular Association (ICA) with the Government of India (GoI). ICA referred to data available from market research firm IHS, China’s National Bureau of Statistics and Vietnam General Statistics Office. According to the data shared by ICA, annual production of mobile phones in India increased from 3 million units in 2014 to 11 million units in 2017. With this, India replaced Vietnam to become the second largest producer of mobile phones in 2017. With the rise in mobile phone production, imports of the devices in the country also reduced to less than half in 2017-18. The Fast Track Task Force (FTTF), a body under the ministry of electronics and IT, has set a target to achieve around 500 million mobile phone production in India by 2019, with value estimated to be around $46 billion.

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:
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:
Prakash Javadekar, the Union Minister of Human Resource Development (HRD), has recently released INDIA RANKINGS 2018 for Higher Educational Institutions and presented awards to the institutions under the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF-2018). In it, the Indian Institute of Science (IISC) in Bengaluru has been adjudged the overall best institution in the country. Apart from this, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) – has been adjudged the best engineering college and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM – A) the best management institution. Delhi University’s Miranda House was the best college and National Law School of India University, Bengaluru (NLSIU – B) the best law school in the country. In the medical college category, AIIMS New Delhi stood first, followed by PGIMER Chandigarh and CMC Vellore. The idea behind these rankings is to promote quality in education. The aim is also encourage competition to perform better and set up new benchmarks of performance in higher education space.

Notes:
India has been ranked 37th out of 125 countries in global startup ecosystem in 2017, according to latest report released by global startup ecosystem map Startupblink. The Startupblink is a global startup ecosystem map with tens of thousands of registered startups, coworking spaces, and accelerators. The list was topped by the United States, followed by the United Kingdom. The rankings, in association with ANSYS Startup Program, are based on many thousands of data points gathered over the last four years on StartupBlink’s global startup map, including data collected by its local representatives in more than 70 chapters around the world. The study targets three primary audiences: entrepreneurs, municipal development offices, and national governments. Entrepreneurs can utilise the rankings to determine if a particular city has the resources needed to support their goals.

Notes:
The World Homoeopathy Day (WHD) is observed every year on April 10 to commemorate the birth anniversary of Homoeopathy founder Dr Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has inaugurated a scientific convention on the World Homoeopathy Day (WHD 2018) in New Delhi on April 10. The theme of the 2-day convention is “Innovate: Evolve, Progress: Exploring Science since 40 years”. On this occasion, Ministry of AYUSH awards relating to Homoeopathy for Life Time Achievement, Best Teacher, Young Scientist and Best Research paper will be conferred. Council is signing MoUs with PG Homoeopathic Colleges on this Day to support the development of research infrastructure in an effort to link education with research. The convention will pay tributes to Dr Hahnemann, on his 263rd birth anniversary. Homoeopathic researchers, practitioners, students, industrialists as well as representatives of various homoeopathic associations are participating in the event.

Notes:
The 16th International Energy Forum Ministerial Meeting – IEF16 has started in New Delhi, India from April 10, 2018. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The aim of the 3-day IEF16 is to focus on how global shifts, transition policies and new technologies influence market stability and future investment in the energy sector. The IEF16 is the largest gathering of energy ministers from across the globe, industry leaders and heads of key international organisations who will debate the future of global energy. Its 72 member countries are signatories to the IEF Charter, which outlines the framework of the global energy dialogue through this inter-governmental arrangement. Apart from them, 20 countries are also participating in this meeting as special invitees.

Notes:
Hemchand Yadav, the former Chhattisgarh minister and senior BJP leader, has passed away in Delhi on April 11, 2018. He was first elected as an MLA from Durg in 1998 (when it was part of the undivided Madhya Pradesh) and again in 2003 and 2008. Yadav was part of the Raman Singh cabinet for ten years from 2003 to 2013, and served as the minister of labour, water resources, panchayat and rural development and higher education.