Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2018

Notes:
Sreekumaran Thampi, the renowned Lyricist and director, has been chosen for the prestigious J.C. Daniel Award for 2017 in recognition of his sterling contributions to the Malayalam film industry. The J.C. Daniel Award, which is Kerala’s highest award in Malayalam cinema, will be presented to Thampi at the upcoming Kerala State Film Awards distribution function in Kollam. The J.C. Daniel Award, conferred by the state government annually in recognition to an individual’s contributions to Malayalam cinema, carries a purse of Rs 5 lakh, a plaque, and a citation.

Notes:
Sloane Stephens, a US professional tennis player, has won the 2018 women’s singles Miami Open tennis tournament by defeating Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in the final by 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 on April 1, 2018. It is her first Miami Open tennis title.

Notes:
The World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) is observed every year on April 2 to recognize and support all children and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The day is to highlight the need to help improve the quality of life of those with autism so they can lead full and meaningful lives as an integral part of society. The 2018 theme is “Empowering women and girls with autism”.

Notes:
Debjani Ghosh, former managing director of Intel South Asia, has been appointed the new President of National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM). She succeeded R Chandrashekhar. A big propagator of gender diversity and equal representation in corporate India, Ms. Ghosh was the first woman to lead Intel India and Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT). She now gets the rein of Nasscom.

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:
Himanta Biswa Sarma, a cabinet ranked minister and convener of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), has been elected as the new president of Badminton Association of India (BAI) unopposed during the federation’s annual general body meeting and election in Goa on April 3, 2018. He will serve as the president for a term of four years. Sarma took over as the interim president of BAI last year after the demise of former president Akhilesh Das Gupta.

Notes:
As per latest survey conducted by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) across 53 airports, the Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) has been declared as the cleanest and best-maintained airport in the country under the 1.5 million to 5 million passenger handling airport category. Airport director VV Rao received the award during the 23rd annual day celebrations of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in New Delhi on April 1, 2018.

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:
India is emerged as the 3rd most vulnerable country in terms of risk of cyber threats, such as malware, spam and ransomware, in 2017, as per latest report by security solutions provider ‘Symantec’. The list is topped by U.S., followed by China. The global threat ranking is based on 8 metrics: malware, spam, phishing, bots, network attacks, web attacks, ransomware and cryptominers. According to Internet Security Threat Report, India continues to be 2nd most impacted by spam and bots, 3rd most impacted by network attacks, and 4th most impacted by ransomware. The report also pointed out that with the threat landscape becoming more diverse, attackers are working harder to discover new avenues of attack and cover their tracks while doing so.