Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2018

Notes:
Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma will be honoured with the 2018 Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Award for her successful movies as a producer. The award will be given by an organisation called Dadasaheb Phalke Foundation, a Mumbai-based organisation. Beside her, Ranveer Singh will also get the 2018 Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Award as Best Actor for his movie ‘Padmaavat’. He has not only received incredible acclaim for his portrayal of the merciless Alauddin Khilji but he has also delivered outstanding box office collections as he recorded his first ever 300 crore blockbuster.

Notes:
India’s first high-speed electric locomotive has been flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the Madhepura Electric Locomotive Factory in Bihar on April 10, 2018. It has a 12000 horsepower (HP) engine with a maximum speed of 110 km per hour. The first big Make-in-India project is developed & completed in collaboration with French firm Alstome. As per Indian Railways & Alstome pact, 800 such trains will be manufactured in the country over a period of 11 years. The Rs 20,000-crore project includes the Rs 1,300 crore cost for setting up the factory at Madhepura and two loco maintenance depots at Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Nagpur (Maharashtra), beside building 800 locos. The average cost of each locomotive is estimated to be Rs 25 crore. With this induction, India will join an elite list of countries, including Russia, China, Germany and Sweden, that have 12,000 HP and above capacity electric locomotives.

Notes:
Rajesh Ranjan, a 1984 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of Bihar cadre, has been appointed as Director General of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). He has been appointed as the chief of the CISF till November 30, 2020, i.e. the date of his superannuation. At present, he is Special Director General of Border Security Force (BSF). The post was lying vacant after incumbent O P Singh took over as Director General of the Uttar Pradesh Police in January 2018. The CISF is tasked with providing security to various government installations including the country’s airports.

Notes:
India with an economic freedom score of 54.5 points has been ranked 130th in the latest annual Index of Economic Freedom released by a top American think-tank the Heritage Foundation. As per 2018 Index, India is developing into an open-market economy, but traces of its past autarkic policies remain. The Index covers 12 freedoms – from property rights to financial freedom – in 186 countries. It is a helpful tool for a variety of audiences, including academics, policymakers, journalists, students, teachers, and those in business and finance. The index is topped by Hong Kong, followed by Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland and Australia.

Notes:
Dr. Renu Swaroop, the renowned scientist, has been appointed the Secretary of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT). Swaroop, currently senior adviser in the same department, has been appointed to the post for a period of two years or until she attains 60 years of age. She succeeded Prof K Vijay Raghavan. After his retirement as DBT Secretary, Prof Raghavan has been appointed as the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India (GoI).

Notes:
The 10th edition of a biennial exhibition of weapons and military hardware “DefExpo India- 2018” has started at Tiruvidanthal, Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu on April 11, 2018. The 4-day long defence expo was formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The theme of the expo is “India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub”, which will showcase the strengths of India’s defence public sector and uncover the country’s growing private industry. According to the Defence Ministry, over 670 defence firms including 154 foreign manufacturers are participating in the exhibition of weapons and military hardware. It is being attended by official delegations from over 47 countries including the US, the UK, Russia, Afghanistan and Sweden, Finland, Italy, Madagascar, Myanmar, Nepal, Portugal, Seychelles and Vietnam.

Notes:
The book “India’s Heritage of Gharana Music: Pandits of Gwalior” has been authored by classical vocalist Meeta Pandit. It was recently launched by politicians Jyotiraditya Scindia and Karan Singh. The book is an outcome of an emotional journey that author undertook after her elder brother Tushar Pandit died in a road accident in 1994. According to the book, Akbar’s fondness for Tansen troubled the other musicians, who looked for ways to humiliate the musician. The book also documents how the Pandit family assimilated the great music tradition from the Khans — Ustad Haddu Khan, Ustad Natthu Khan, and Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan — and sheds light on the gharana style.

Notes:
Veena Sahajwalla, an Indian-origin scientist in Australia, has launched the world’s first microfactory that can transform the components from electronic waste items such as smartphones and laptops into valuable materials for re-use. The modular microfactories can operate on a site as small as 50 square metres and can be located wherever waste may be stockpiled. A microfactory is one or a series of small machines and devices that uses patented technology to perform one or more functions in the reforming of waste products into new and usable resources. The e-waste microfactory that reforms discarded computers, mobile phones and printers has a number of small modules for this process and fits into a small site. The discarded devices are first placed into a module to break them down. The next module may involve a special robot for the identification of useful parts, she said. Another module then involves using a small furnace which transforms these parts into valuable materials by using a precisely controlled temperature process developed via extensive research. These transformed materials include metal alloys and a range of micro-materials.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi has installed the Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology lab at the Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology and Management campus, which is likely to reduce effects of exposure and radiation compared to the 3G/4G systems. This will be the first-of-its-kind 5G radio laboratory in India that will be inaugurated on April 13, 2018. This 5G base station prototype will be used for developing a complete 5G base station, which can possibly lead to the manufacturing of 5G base stations in India with support/collaboration from the industry. It will also be instrumental in generating skilled manpower.

Notes:
The 65th National Film Awards for 2017 were announced at PIB Conference Room, Shastri Bhawan in New Delhi on April 13, 2018. In it, Assamese Film ‘Village Rockstar’ bagged the best film award, while ‘Newton’ has been selected as the Best Hindi Film. The National award for Best Actress is given to Sri Devi posthumously for her role in the film ‘Mom’ and the Best Actor (Male) award goes to Riddhi Sen for his role in Bengali film ‘Nagarkirtan’. ‘Water Baby’ directed by Pia Shah, won the Best Debut Film of a Director in the Non Feature Film category. The award ceremony for the 65th National Film Awards will be held on May 3, 2018. The National Film Awards will be presented by President Ram Nath Kovind.