Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2018

Notes:
Lieutenant General PP Malhotra has taken charge as new Director General of National Cadet Corps (NCC), the largest uniformed youth organization in the world. Prior to assuming his present appointment, he was the Chief Engineer of the Army’s premier Northern Command. The NCC is the Indian military cadet corps with its headquarters at New Delhi.

Notes:
Bhimsain (81), the veteran filmmaker and animation pioneer, has passed away in Mumbai on April 17, 2018. Born in 1936 in Multan (modern-day Pakistan), Bhimsain obtained his diploma in Fine Arts and Classical Music from Lucknow University. In 1970, he made his directorial debut with his first animation short “The Climb”, which earned him the Silver Hugo Award in the Chicago Film Festival. ‘Ek chidiya, anek chidiyaan’ is one of the most popular songs from animation film ‘Ek Anek Ekta’, which he made with Vijaya Mulay in 1974. A versatile artiste who enriched the medium of both television and films with his contribution, Bhimsain was primarily known for his work in the world of animation during the golden period of Doordarshan. He also directed and produced several animation and ad films such as ‘Na’, ‘Ek-Do’, ‘Fire’, ‘Munni’, ‘Freedom is a Thin Lie’, ‘Mehman’, ‘Kahani Har Zamane Ki’ and ‘Business is People’. He is best known for his film “Gharaonda” and animation short films like “Ek Anek Ekta”.

Notes:
Senior journalist T K Rajalakshmi has been elected the new president of the Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC), while Jyoti Malhotra and Shobhna Jain were declared vice-presidents of the media body. The IWPC, which was launched in 1994, is a reputed association of women journalists. It was set up to support women journalist in their professional work, in enhancing their knowledge and skills and to provide a forum for networking. The purpose of the organisation is to create a robust media network by making women’s voices and bylines more visible.

Notes:
The regional conference on “Urban Development: Technological Solutions and Governance Challenges” has started in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on April 19, 2018. The conference is a lead-up event to the 3rd Annual Meeting of AIIB scheduled to be held on 25th and 26th June, 2018 in Mumbai. The 2-day conference is organized by the Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), Gujarat Council along with Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), an autonomous research organization under the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The focus will be on capacity building, informed decisions, proper planning, recycling and reuse of resources among others.

Notes:
As per the database of IMF’s World Economic Outlook (WEO) for April 2018, India is the world’s 6th largest economy with record Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $2.6 trillion for 2017. The five economies ahead are the United States, China, Japan, Germany and United Kingdom. This is the first time India crossed the $2.5 trillion yardstick used to distinguish between the big economies and the rest if the world. Further, the IMF has said that India is expected to grow at 7.4% in 2018 and 7.8% in 2019, up from 6.7% in 2017. Apart from this, the World Bank has also forecasted India’s GDP growth from 6.7% in 2017 to 7.3% in 2018 and to subsequently stabilise at 7.5% in 2019 and 2020.

Notes:
On April 19, Lt Governor Anil Baijal has approved the Kejriwal government’s proposal mandating an hourly compensation of Rs 100 to consumers in case of unscheduled power cuts. As per the proposed policy, power discoms will have to pay their consumers for unscheduled power cuts, after first hour, at an hourly rate of Rs 100. With the LG’s approval, Delhi will become the first city in the country to have a policy to compensate consumers for unscheduled outages. There are three private power discoms including the BSES companies BYPL and BRPL, and the Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) that supply power to the city, barring areas under the New Delhi Municipal Council and the Delhi Cantonment. The compensation earned by the consumers will be adjusted against their monthly power bill. In case, the compensation is not paid by the discoms, the consumers can lodge a complaint with the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Authority (DERC). The amount of compensation in such cases will be Rs 5,000 or five times of the compensation payable, whichever is higher.

Notes:
Nabi Tajima (117), the world’s oldest Japanese supercentenarian, has passed away in Kikai, Japan on April 21, 2018. She was born on August 4, 1900, and reportedly had more than 160 descendants, including great-great-great grandchildren. She was the last living person certified to have been born in the nineteenth century. Tajima became the world’s oldest person 7 months ago after the death of Violet Brown in Jamaica, also at the age of 117.

Notes:
TVR Shenoy, the veteran journalist and columnist, has passed away in Karnataka on April 17, 2018. He will be remembered for his deeper analysis and narrative style writing in his illustrious career as a newsman that spanned around five decades. In his lifetime, Shenoy contributed to numerous national and international newspapers, magazines on a wide range of issues through his writing. Shenoy was a regular contributor to The Indian Express among various newspapers which included Mathrabhumi, Gulf News among others. He was also the editor of The Week and was an executive member of Prasar Bharati. He has been doing freelance journalism for over two decades. Shenoy was awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan award in 2003.

Notes:
On 23rd April 2018, Manipur is observing Khongjom Day to pay tributes to the great warriors of Anglo-Manipur battle of 1891 at Khongjom in Thoubal district. The warriors laid down their lives safeguarding the freedom of the state. In the main function at Khebaching, the State Governor Dr. Najma Heptulla and Chief Minister N. Biren Singh led the people to pay floral tribute at the Khongjom War memorial site. Floral tributes were also paid at the statue of Major Paona Brajabasi, who led the Manipuri warriors against the British forces. Religious offering will also be paid at the Khongjom River near the battlefield.

Notes:
Out of 2.5 lakhs gram panchayats, the Central Government has declared Digambarpur gram panchayat of West Bengal in South 24 Parganas district as the best panchayat in the country. The survey was conducted by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj. On the basis of 7 factors of work include the system of planning, quality of planning, different activities and level of coordination, implementation of the plan and its proper monitoring, use of Information Technology and documentation the ranking of the Gram Panchayats have been selected. Gram Panchayats in districts including Purulia, Birbhum and Burdwan have also been awarded special prizes for certain achievements.