GK & Current Affairs Quiz: April 3, 2017

Notes:
Rio Olympics silver medallist P V Sindhu from India has won the 2017 Women’s singles India Super Series tournament by defeating reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain in the final by 21-19, 21-16 at Siri Fort Sports Complex in New Delhi. Beside this, Viktor Axelsen of Denmark clinched the men’s singles title of the tournament by defeating Chinese Taipei’s Tien Chen Chou in straight games.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore has topped the 2017 National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings for higher educational institutions in overall ranking. IIT Madras stood at 2nd position, followed by IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). The institutes are ranked by the National Bureau of Accreditation (NBA) based on their teaching and learning resources, graduation outcome, perception, outreach and inclusivity and research productivity. This year, the project has more than 800 new participants and some new categories has also been introduced in medicine and law. Apart from this, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has topped the list in India Rankings 2017 in engineering category, followed by IIT Bombay and Kharagpur. Whereas, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad bagged the first rank in management category while Miranda House, Delhi was ranked the top college. The 2017 India Rankings for higher educational institutions has been released by Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar in New Delhi on April 3, 2017.

Notes:
The 19th edition of Commonwealth Forestry Conference (CFC) has started at Forest Research Institute in Dehradun, Uttarakhand with the theme “Forests for Prosperity and Posterity” on April 3, 2017. About 500 delegations including scientists, academicians, forest officers, representatives of the governments, industries, and research and conservation agencies from India and abroad are attending the 5-day event. The conference is being organized in coordination with the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change along with Commonwealth Forestry Association of United Kingdom. The issues affecting climate change and green cover will be deliberated upon in the conference.

Notes:
Roger Federer, a Swiss professional tennis player, has won the 2017 Men’s Singles Miami Open Tennis Tournament by defeating Rafael Nadal in the final by 6-3 6-4 in the final at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, United States. Apart from this, Johanna Konta from Great Britain has won the 2017 Miami Open – Women’s Singles title by defeating Caroline Wozniacki in the final by 6–4, 6–3.

Notes:
Darcus Howe (74), one of the most prominent black activists of his generation in Britain, has recently passed away in London, United Kingdom. He was best known in the UK for his Black on Black series on Channel 4; his current affairs programme, Devil’s Advocate; and his work with Tariq Ali on “Bandung Fil”.

Notes:
The World Autism Awareness Day (AWWD) is an internationally recognised day observed every year on April 2 to highlight the need to help improve the quality of life of those with autism so they can lead full and meaningful lives as an integral part of society. The 2017 theme is “Toward Autonomy and Self-Determination”.

Notes:
Dawit Isaak, an imprisoned Eritrean-Swedish journalist who was arrested in a crackdown on the media in September 2001 and was known for his critical and insightful reporting, has been chosen for the 2017 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. His present location is unknown. The $25,000 Prize is named in honour of Guillermo Cano Isaza, a Colombian journalist who was assassinated in 1986 in front of the offices of his El Espectador newspaper in Bogotá. It is awarded each year to an individual or organization that has persevered to protect press freedoms under adversity. The Prize will be awarded during the celebration of 2017 World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) on May 3, which will be hosted in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Notes:
The South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Finance Ministers’ meeting has been chaired by the Union Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley in New Delhi on April 3, 2017 to discuss the imperatives of a new way forward for sub-regional economic cooperation among countries under the SASEC program. The meeting has attended by the 7-Finance Ministers from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka apart from officials from these countries and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The event is a unique opportunity for the member countries to discuss and exchange ideas and strive to foster better cooperation in the sub-region. Recently, Myanmar has also joined the SASEC programme as its 7th member.

Notes:
The Union Minister of Textiles, Smriti Zubin Irani has recently launched “PowerTex India” a comprehensive scheme for powerloom sector development in Bhiwandi district of Maharashtra. PowerTex India has also launched simultaneously at over 45 locations in India and will especially benefit small powerloom weavers. The purpose of the 3-year scheme is to boost common infrastructure and modernize the power-loom sector. The scheme has provisions for installation of solar plants and would provide financial assistance/capital subsidy for installation of solar photo voltaic plant (solar plant) by small power-loom units to alleviate the problem of power-cuts. For upgradation of powerloom sector, the union government has also increased subsidy by 30%.

Notes:
The Ntangki National Park is a wildlife park located in Peren district of Nagaland. Among the creatures that inhabit the park are the rare hoolock gibbon, golden langur, hornbill, palm civets, black stork, tiger, white-breasted kingfisher, monitor lizard, python and sloth bear. The name “Ntangki” is derived from the Zeme dialect of the Zeliangrong tribe.