GK & Current Affairs Quiz: April 16-17, 2017

Notes:
Robert William Taylor (85), the internet and computer pioneer, has recently passed away in California, United States. He was instrumental in creating the internet and the modern personal computer. Taylor’s was also responsible for developing ethernet local networking and a word processing program that became Microsoft Word.

Notes:
The Chief minister of Himachal Pradesh, Virbhadra Singh has recently launched an ‘unemployment allowance scheme’ at the state level function at Chamba on the occasion of the 70th foundation day of Himachal Pradesh. As per the scheme, the state government will provide an unemployment allowance of Rs 1,000 per month to youth having intermediate or above qualification where as the unemployed youth with disability would be given Rs 1,500 per month. Apart from this, the state government has also decided to regularize contract employees after three years in service, instead of the present period of 5 years.

Notes:
Maharashtra became the first Indian state to launch a special awareness drive to ensure that transgenders in the state register as voters. The state branch of the Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched the drive on April 15, celebrated as Third Gender Day (TGD). According to ECI officials, Maharashtra has over 10 lakh transgenders and only about 1,700 are registered voters. It must be noted that the ‘third gender’ status for hijras or transgenders was created by the Supreme Court in its landmark judgment on 15th April 2014.

Notes:
The Union Minister of Human Resource and Development (HRD) Prakash Javadekar has launched the portal and mobile app “Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA)” in New Delhi on April 17, 2017. The portal will act as a one-stop one-stop destination for higher education plans, decisions and information on resources of states. Apart from this, the Fund and Reform Tracker has also launched for RUSA. The mobile application will ensure that all projects under RUSA are tracked 24×7. RUSA is the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) launched in 2013 to provide strategic central funding to State Higher Education Departments and Institutions and achieve the broad objectives of access, equity and excellence.

Notes:
Gayatri Pullela has bagged both the singles and doubles crown at the Pembangunan Jaya Raya Junior Grand Prix in Jakarta, Indonesia. She won girls U-15 singles title by defeating her compatriot Samiya Farooqui by 21-11, 18-21, 21-16. Later, Pullela and Samiya won their U-15 doubles title by defeating Indonesian pair of Kelly Larissa and Shelandry Vyola in the final by 21-17, 21-15. Both Gayatri and Samiya train together at the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad. Gayatri Pullela is the daughter of National Badminton coach Pullela Gopichand.

Notes:
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has won the 2017 Time magazine’s readers’ poll of the 100 most influential people in the world. Duterte got 5% of the total “yes” votes in the poll, which closed on April 16, 2017. The official TIME 100 list, which is selected by TIME’s editors, will be announced on April 20, 2017.

Notes:
Emma Martina Luigia Morano (117), the world’s oldest woman, has recently passed away at Verbania in Italy on April 15, 2017. She was born on 29th November 1899 in the Piedmont region of Italy and was officially the last person born in the 1800s still living. She was the Guinness World Record holder for the oldest living person and oldest living woman. Upon Morano’s death, Violet Brown from Jamaica became the world’s oldest known person in the world.

Notes:
The World Hemophilia Day (WHD) is observed every year on April 17 to improve and sustain care for people with inherited bleeding disorders around the world. The 2017 World Hemophilia Day theme is “Hear Their Voices” to unite the community and show support for the millions of people affected by bleeding disorders. Hemophilia is an inherited bleeding disorder in which a person lacks or has low levels of certain proteins called “clotting factors” and as a result, the blood doesn’t clot properly. Clotting factor is a protein in blood that controls bleeding. If you have hemophilia, you may bleed for a longer time after an injury than you would if your blood clotted normally. Hemophilia is quite rare. About 1 in 10,000 people are born with it.

Notes:
Sai Praneeth Bhamidipati from India has won the 2017 Men’s singles Singapore Open Badminton tournament by defeating his compatriot Kidambi Srikanth in the final by 17-21, 21-17,21-17 at Singapore Indore Stadium, Singapore. Apart from this, Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan has won the Women’s Singles title by defeating Carolina Marin of Spain in the final by 21-15, 21-15. In the Men’s doubles event, the pair of M Boe and C Mogensen defeated the J Li and Y Liu duo 21-13, 21-14. In the Women’s doubles, the pair of K R Juhl and C Pedersen beat the pair of M Matsutomo and A Takahashi 21-18,14-21, 21-15. In the Mixed Doubles, the K. Lu and Y Huang duo defeated the duo of P Dechapol and S Teiratennachal 19-21, 21-16, 21-11.

Notes:
The first-ever Nepal-China joint military exercise ‘Sagarmatha Friendship-2017’ has started at Kathmandu, Nepal from April 17, 2017 with a special focus on counter- terrorism and disaster management. The purpose of 10-day-long military exercise is to exchange experience, skills and professional knowledge between the armies of Nepal and China. It is to be known that Sagarmatha is the Nepali name of Mt Everest that is bordering between Nepal and China.