Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2018

Notes:
The National Panchayati Raj Day (NPRD) is celebrated every year in India on April 24 by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj. On this day, in 1993, the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 came into force that has institutionalized Panchayati Raj through the village, Intermediate and District level Panchayats.

Notes:
The Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has signed Information Utility (IU) pact with National E-Governance Services Limited (NeSL) to share financial and security information under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IU) regulation 2017.. With this agreement, the IOB branches will be able to provide high-quality, authenticated information about debts and defaults; which will have more transparency in maintaining the list of borrowers, debtors, creditors and loan defaulters. The NeSL is the India’s first IU registered by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) for bankruptcy cases under the ‘Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) 2016’ in October 2017. IU stores financial information that helps to establish defaults as well as verify claims expeditiously and thereby facilitates completion of transactions under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 in a time bound manner.

Notes:
On April 24, the Government of India (GoI), the Government of Madhya Pradesh and the World Bank have signed a $210 million loan agreement for the Madhya Pradesh Rural Connectivity Project. The project is expected to improve the durability, resilience and safety of the gravel surfaced rural roads and enhance the capacity of the state to manage its rural roads network. The project will cover 10,510 km stretch of rural roads in Madhya Pradesh that fall under the Chief Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana (CMGSY) program. Of this 10,000 km will be upgraded from existing gravel to bituminous surface roads, while 510 km of new roads will be built to the same bituminous surface standard.

Notes:
The Jalaput Dam is a hydroelectric dam built on the Machkund River, a tributary of the Godavari River, and stands as a boundary between the states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. The dam is situated near Ondra Gadda in the district of Visakhapatnam and is placed along the Mudugal hills. It has a steep fall along it known as the Duduma Falls. It impounds 34.273 Tmcft of water for the needs of down stream 120 MW Machkund Hydro-Electric Scheme (MHES), which is in operation since 1955.

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 Haryana government has appointed international shooter Gauri Sheoran as brand ambassador for its Measles and Rubella (MR) vaccination campaign. The decision was announced by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar at the launch of MR vaccination campaign. Under the campaign, around 80 lakh children — in the age group of nine months to 15 years — would be vaccinated. The chief minister also flagged off 11 medical mobile units for the campaign. Through this campaign, the government proposes to eliminate measles and control rubella in the country by year 2020.

Notes:
On April 29, Pawan Chamling has created history by becoming the longest serving chief minister in India. He surpassed the record of former communist ruler of West Bengal, Late Jyoti Basu. Chamling became the chief minister of Sikkim on 12th December 1994 and has ruled the tiny Himalayan state ever since. He is also the president of Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF). Chamling, who also writes poetry, joined politics in 1973 and was elected to the Sikkim assembly for the first time in 1985. The assembly elections will be held in Sikkim in 2019.

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:
The book “My Journey from Marxism-Leninism to Nehruvian Socialism” has been authored by C H Hanumantha Rao, who is former Planning Commission and Finance Commission member. Mr Rao is presently one of the most creative thinkers, social activist, and distinguished economist in India. The book has been launched by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. A period, on which Professor Rao does not comment on much, that is the period of 1975 Emergency, which was imposed by late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. But it is quite clear from this book that he was not very happy with Emergency and the suspension of human rights and civil rights in the country.

Notes:
The multi-nation counter-terrorism exercise “Peace Mission” will be held at the Ural mountains of Russia in September 2018, which will take place under the framework of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The purpose of the exercise will be to enhance counter-terror cooperation among the 8 SCO member countries. It will be for the first time since Independence that India and Pakistan will both be part of a military exercise, though the armies of the two nations have worked together in UN peace keeping missions. The drill will also see the resumption of bilateral military exercise between India and China, which was suspended in 2017 following the 73-day Doklam standoff. The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the Presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became full members of the bloc last year. With expansion of the grouping, SCO now represents over 40% of humanity and nearly 20% of the global GDP.