GK & Current Affairs Quiz: April 19, 2018

Notes:
The World Liver Day (WLD) is observed every year on April 19 to build awareness and understanding how important the liver is for our body and how liver ailments can be treated. Liver is a unique organ in human body and has a special capacity of regeneration. It has been seen that even 75% of liver can be safely removed without any untoward consequences because of this capacity of regeneration. The liver is the second largest organ and is a key player in our body’s digestive system. Everything we consume passes through the liver. It fights infections, removes toxins, controls cholesterol, regulates blood sugar, make proteins and releases bile to help digestion. As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), the liver diseases are the 10th most common cause of death in India. Hence, to take care of the liver, one needs to adopt a healthy lifestyle and have a balanced diet of grains, proteins, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, and fats. The 2018 theme is ‘Riding New Waves in Liver Diagnosis, Staging & Treatment’.

Notes:
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has launched its newest planet-hunting spacecraft, Transit Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) from Cape Canaveral in Florida on a mission to find thousands of new worlds beyond our Solar System. The mission will survey a great swathe of stars, hoping to catch the dips in brightness that occur when orbiting planets traverse their faces. TESS’s goal is to compile a catalogue that other telescopes can then focus in on for more detailed analysis. The mission’s Principal investigator from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, George Ricker said, TESS is equipped with four very sensitive cameras that will enable it to monitor nearly the entire sky.

Notes:
Among the 16 states that participated, Madhya Pradesh has been conferred the Most Film Friendly State Award 2017 for its efforts towards easing filming in the state by creating a well-structured website, film-friendly infrastructure, offering incentives, maintaining databases, undertaking marketing and promotional initiatives. The award will be presented by President Ram Nath Kovind during the presentation of the 65th National Film Awards on May 3, 2018. The state also received positive feedback from established filmmakers who have shot there. The efforts taken by the state to present their case for the Awards were also appreciated. Uttarakhand has been chosen for the Special Mention Certificate to recognize the efforts made by it towards creating a film-friendly environment. The jury for selecting the Most Film Friendly State Award 2017 was chaired by acclaimed filmmaker Ramesh Sippy.

Notes:
Aditi Rao Hydari has been conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Award 2018 for the Best Leading Lady (Critics Award) for her memorable performance in ‘Bhoomi’. The award ceremony is scheduled on April 21, 2018, at St. Andrews Auditorium in Mumbai. It will be attended by producers, directors, distributors and exhibitors among others from the film fraternity.

Notes:
India will host the 2018 Global IT Challenge for Youth with Disabilities (GITC), which will be held in New Delhi from November 8 to 11. For this, on April 18, the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry’s disability division has signed an MoU with Korea’s Rehabilitation International to host the GITC. Both the parties, as per the MoU, have agreed to cooperate in making all arrangements such as financial, logistics and manpower for the success of the event. India is hosting the event along with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Korea, and its organising partners are Rehabilitation International, Korea, and the LG Group. The event is expected to be attended by around 300 people, including 120 youths with disabilities from 24 Asia-Pacific countries .

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:
On April 18, the Government of India (GoI) has launched its flagship ‘Study in India’ programme to attract international students to study in India. It was jointly launched by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Minister of State for Human Resources Development Satya Pal Singh in New Delhi. The website of ‘Study in India’ can be accessed at www.studyinindia.gov.in. The portal will enable students from 30 countries across South Asia, Africa and West Asia to select and apply for different courses from 150 select Indian institutions which are high on NAAC and National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking. The aim of Study in India is to make India a preferred destination for the foreign students to pursue their education. Currently, India is home to about 45,000 international students, which accounts for just 1% of the global student mobility. With ‘Study in India’, the government hopes the country will start attracting 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh international students by the year 2022.

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:
The much-awaited river bridge ‘Ib Setu’, which is built over the Ib river in Sambalpur district , has been opened to the public by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The 2.5-km-long bridge, which is the State’s second longest bridge, has been built in 3 years at a cost of Rs. 117.50 crore. The bridge has helped establish direct road connectivity between Sambalpur and Brajarajnagar and the distance has now been reduced by 50 km.

Notes:
Dharam Pal Choudhary (64), the sitting BJP MLA from Mundawar Vidhan Sabha constituency of Rajasthan, has passed away in Gurugram on April 18, 2018. He was a three-time MLA from Alwar district–in 2003, 2008 and 2013.