Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2018

Notes:
Mario Abdo Benitez, who belongs to the ruling Colorado Party, has won the 2018 presidential election in Paraguay by defeating Efraín Alegre with 46.46% of the votes to 42.73%. The new President and Vice-President will take office on 15 August 2018 and will leave the office in August 2023.

Notes:
On April 26, the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) of the NITI Aayog has launched the Atal New India Challenge, which aims to support innovators to create products/solutions based on advanced technologies in areas of national importance and social relevance through a grant-based mechanism. Under the challenge, grants of up to Rs 1 crore and mentorship will be given to the winning ideas. AIM will invite prospective innovators, MSMEs and start-ups to design market-ready products, using cutting-edge technologies or prototypes. The focus areas include climate-smart agriculture, smart mobility, predictive maintenance of rolling stock, and waste management. Applicants showing capability, intent and potential to productize technologies will be awarded grants up to Rs 1 crore. This grant will be further supplemented by mentoring, handholding, incubating and other support as needed at various stages of commercialisation, while generating wider deployment for the product.

Notes:
The Dudhsagar Waterfalls is amongst India’s tallest waterfalls with a height of 310 m and an average width of 30 metres. It is a four-tiered waterfall located on the Mandovi River in Goa. It is 60 km from Panaji by road and is located in the Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary and Mollem National Park among the Western Ghats. The waterfall forms the border between Karnataka and Goa states. The area is surrounded by a deciduous forests with a rich biodiversity.

Notes:
Siddhant Banthia from Pune has won the Indian leg of the junior French Open wild card tournament in New Delhi on April 27, 2018. He beat reigning Under-16 national champion Mann Maulik Shah 6-4, 2-6, 7-6. The girls event was won by Rashmikaa S Bhamidipaty, who defeated Tanisha Kashyap 6-4, 6-4. Banthia will now compete with winners from China and Brazil in the final Qualifier to get an entry into the main draw of the junior French Open.

Notes:
The Asia-Pacific Regional Workshop of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2018 to build the capacity of the Asia-Pacific Region to monitor and report on land degradation. The workshop was jointly hosted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and UNCCD Secretariat. The 4-day workshop trained the participants in the use of an innovative land degradation monitoring tool by Conservation International, for the reporting process of UNCCD. The participants included delegates from about 40 Asia Pacific countries, as well as representatives from 12 Indian states affected by land degradation, scientists and researchers from scientific institutions of national importance and line-Ministries. The UNCCD is the only legally binding international agreement on land issues. The convention promotes good land stewardship.

Notes:
Sitanshu Yashaschandra, the Gujarati poet, playwright and academic, has been selected for the 2017 Saraswati Samman for his collection of verses titled ‘Vakhar’. The award is presented by the KK Birla Foundation, a literary and cultural organisation that also gives the Vyas Samman for Hindi and Bihari Puraskar for Hindi and Rajasthani writers of Rajasthan. It is the highest recognition in the field of Indian literature in the country and carries a citation, a plaque and award money of Rs 15 lakh.

Notes:
The Sipat Super Thermal Power Station is located at Sipat in Bilaspur district, Chhattisgarh. The power plant, which is also known as Rajiv Gandhi Super Thermal Power Station, is one of the coal based power plants of NTPC. The coal for the power plant is sourced from Dipika Mines of South Eastern Coalfields Limited. The project has an installed capacity of 2980 MW consisting of two stages, stage one which got commissioned late was of 3 units of 660 MW each involving super-critical boilers technology and stage two consisted of 2 units of 500 MW each.

Notes:
Rafael Nadal, a Spanish professional tennis player, has lifted his 11th Barcelona Open tennis title on April 29, 2018 and extended his record of 46 consecutive sets won on clay. In the final, he defeated Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas by 6-2 6-1. With this, Nadal also achieved a number of records, having achieved 400 career wins on clay. He became the only player with 400 or more career wins on both clay and hard.

Notes:
Singing legend Asha Bhosle has been honoured with the Lifetime 26th P C Chandra Puraskaar 2018at the Science City auditorium.in Mumbai, Maharashtra on April 29, 2018. The award is a tribute to the founding father of the P. C. Chandra Group, the late Shri Purna Chandra Chandra. It carries an honorarium of Rs 10 lakh which is tax exempted.

Notes:
On April 29, the 2018 International Buddhist Conference was held in Lumbini, the birth place of Gautama Buddha. It was organised as part of 2562nd Buddha Jayanti celebrations. The basic purpose of the conference was to disseminate teachings of Gautam Buddha and spread the messages of nonviolence, brotherhood, co-existence, love and peace to the international community. Representatives from more than 20 nations, including India, reputed archaeologists, historians, Buddhist gurus and scholars, participated in the conference. The 2-day conference, organised with the theme ‘Lumbini Nepal: The birthplace of Lord Buddha and the fountain of Buddhism and world peace’, concluded with a 10-point Lumbini Declaration 2018, which includes issues such as interfaith dialogue, infrastructure development, connecting Buddhist attractions in Nepal and India, and implementing the Greater Lumbini Area Master Plan.