Current Affairs Quiz - 28th April, 2018 - Current Affairs MCQ

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will be launching a slew of strategically important satellites, which will help the military to keep an eye on activities of hostile neighbours and safeguard our land and sea borders. In September 2018, ISRO will launch Gsat-7A, for the Indian Air Force (IAF). Gsat-7A will be launched onboard GSLV Mk II rocket and will enable the IAF to interlink different ground radar stations, airbases and Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. Gsat-7A will be similar to Gsat-7 or Rukmini, which was launched on September 29, 2013, for Indian Navy. Rukmini is considered as Indian Navy's 'eye in the sky' as it helps to monitor the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Another strategically important satellite, Risat-2A will be launched by the end of 2018 onboard PSLV rocket. It is an advanced remote sensing satellite and will boost India's surveillance capabilities.

Online search engine Google is the most trusted Internet brand in India, followed by Facebook, as per the TRA Brand Trust Report 2018. With 1.2 trillion searches per year, Google has become the first port of call for all things on the Internet. Google was followed by Facebook, Amazon and eBay. The biggest falls in trust were seen by Snapdeal, who fell by 142 ranks over last year. The top trust gainers this year were Netflix (up 506 ranks over last year). TRA's Brand Trust Report 2018 report covers 2488 consumer-influencers across 16 cities in India and generated 5 million data points.

A Cancer Screening Mela was organized in Mizoram by the Health Department of Mizoram jointly with Public Foundation of India and National Health Mission under the initiative of Swasth Uttar Purv. The Cancer Screening Mela was funded by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) at Kolasib District, Diakkawn YMA Hall in Mizoram. The event saw participation from a wide range of people belonging to various fields. Theme of the mela was: 'Come on Mizoram, together let's beat Cancer'. Over 1000 participants participated in the screening. The mela was conducted to create awareness on cancer prevention and early diagnosis, early detection and management.

The Meghalaya government has launched 'Mission Lakadong' to achieve a five-fold increase in the production of Lakadong turmeric, an organic variety of turmeric grown in Meghalaya, to at least 50,000 metric tonne per year in the next 5 years. This mission will be implemented by the directorate of horticulture, the Community and Rural Development department, the Forest department, the North Eastern Hill University and the Meghalaya Institute of Entrepreneurship under the direct supervision of the Governor's secretariat. Objective of 'Mission Lakadong' is to improve the livelihood and income of farmers involved in Lakadong turmeric cultivation. The mission also aims to more than double the crop area from the current 2,577 hectare to 6,070 hectare over the next 5 years. The productivity of Lakadong turmeric will also be improved from 6 MT per hectare to 8 MT per hectare area with the introduction of the advanced technologies of plant propagation and post harvest technology induction.

"Harimau Shakti", a joint training exercise between India and Malaysia will be conducted in the forests of Sengai Perdik, Hulu Langat, Malaysia from 30 April 2018 to 13 May 2018. Harimau Shakti is aimed to enhance cooperation & coordination between armed forces of India and Malaysia and to share the expertise of both the contingents. Counter insurgency operations will be conducted in jungle terrain. Indian contingent will be represented by 4 GRENADIERS, one of the oldest infantry battalions. The Malaysian contingent will be represented by soldiers from 1 Royal Ranjer Regiment and the Royal Malay Regiment. Main focus of the exercise will be on tactical operations in jungle warfare. A cross training phase and a field training phase of seven days in the jungles of Hulu Langat will be carried out.

Vistara, the joint venture carrier between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, has become the 3rd Indian carrier to be a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a global body of 280 airlines. Air India and Jet Airways are the two other airlines in India that are IATA members. The IATA membership will enable Vistara to collaborate with other international member airlines for codeshare and interline agreements, and provide a seamless travel experience through an extended global network to travellers to and from India. IATA represents airlines from over 120 countries. It advocates for the interests of airlines across the globe, establishes standards to simplify process and increase passenger convenience, and helps airlines to operate safely, efficiently and economically. Currently, Vistara operates over 730 flights a week to 22 destinations with a fleet of 20 Airbus A320 aircraft.

World Lab Animals Day was observed all over the world. World Day For Animals In Laboratories (WDAIL) also known as World Lab Animal Day is observed every year on 24 April. World Day for Laboratory Animals was declared in 1979 by the British National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS). It marks the birthday of former NAVS president Hugh Dowding. This day highlights the efforts to end the suffering of animals in laboratories and their replacement with advanced scientific non-animal techniques.

India's first-ever nationwide conference on the archaeology, anthropology and sociology of food will be held in Mumbai, Maharashtra from on May 5 and 6, 2018. The conference titled "ArchaeoBroma" is being touted as India's first-ever national meet on "food as culture". It will be organised by the India Study Centre Trust (INSTUCEN Trust) and the Centre for Extra-Mural Studies (CEMS) of the University of Mumbai. Topics like concepts in food studies will focus on creating an academic framework for examining food from point of views of history, archaeology and sociology.

Mohamed Salah, an Egyptian professional footballer who plays for English club Liverpool and the Egypt national team was named the PFA Player of the Year on April 22, 2018. On April 21, 2018, Salah scored his 31st league goal in Liverpool's match against West Bromwich Albion, thereby equalling Luis Suarez, Cristiano Ronaldo and Alan Shearer for the most Premier League goals scored in a 38-game season. Mohamed Salah is the first Egyptian to win this award. PFA Player Of The Year is also referred to as Professional Footballer's Association (PFA) Player's Player of the Year Award and is awarded annually to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the year in English football.

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, released a commemorative postage stamp on former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Late Shri Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna. While releasing the commemorative postage stamp, PM Modi mentioned about Mr. Bahuguna's contributions in the education sector and development in the hilly areas of India. Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna was the 9th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. He held office from November 8, 1973 to November 29, 1975.

Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Radha Mohan Singh addressed the National Kharif Conference 2018 in New Delhi. While addressing the conference, Mr. Singh outlined that the Central Government is working towards making agriculture policy and programs 'income-oriented' rather than 'production-oriented'. PM Modi's multi-dimensional Seven-point Strategy: In order to achieve this objective, government is encouraging the adoption of 'multi-dimensional seven-point' strategy suggested Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which includes enhancing irrigation coverage focusing on 'More crop per drop', provision of quality seeds, large investments in warehouses and cold chains, promotion of value addition through food processing, Implementation of National Agricultural Markets and e-platforms (e-NAM), introduction of crop insurance and promotion of allied activities such as Dairy-Animal husbandry, Poultry, Horticulture, and Fisheries. Mr. Singh added that farmers should be encouraged to participate in the ongoing Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, in which every block will organize Kisan Kalyan Karyashala on May 2, 2018 wherein Agriculture officers and scientists will discuss ways to increase income through new technology and progressive farmers will also narrate their success stories.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed Christine Schraner Burgener of Switzerland as his new special envoy on Myanmar. Until her appointment, Burgener was the Ambassador of Switzerland to Germany since 2015. Peru, Kuwait and the United Kingdom will co-lead the visit to Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research -National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL) and Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under Union Ministry of Communications have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on technical knowledge sharing for establishing a nationwide Time Stamping & Time Synchronization network. Recording date and time of an event is referred to as time stamping. As per the terms of the MoU, DoT will be setting up Nationwide, Time Stamping & Time Synchronization network consisting of 22 Time Synchronization Centers (TSC's) with technical assistance from CSIR-NPL. This network will provide synchronizing pulse in Indian Standard Time(IST) to all Telecom & Internet Service providers across India. Synchronizing the telecom network with IST time stamp will enable the security agencies to overcome the difficulty in analyzing and correlating the cyber events and will also improve the telecom network efficiency by reducing the Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) call drop.

Norway topped in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index for second consecutive year followed by Sweden, Netherlands. India's 138th rank in the 2018 'World Press Freedom Index' marks a drop of two places as compared to 136th rank in 2017. The methodology to compile the index is based on qualitative inputs (responses of experts to a questionnaire) and quantitative inputs (data on abuses and acts of violence against journalists).

Union Tourism Minister K J Alphons awarded Letters of Intent (LoI) to 9 agencies for 22 monuments under 'Adopt a Heritage: Apni Dharohar, Apni Pehchaan' project. The third award ceremony of 'Adopt a Heritage Project' was conducted in New Delhi by Ministry of Tourism in collaboration with Ministry of Culture and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and State/UTs Governments. 'Adopt a Heritage Scheme' was launched on World Tourism Day i.e. September, 27 2017 by President Ram Nath Kovind. This scheme has been initiated by Ministry of Tourism in close collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Under this scheme, Ministry of Tourism invited private and public sector entities to adopt as many as 116 ASI-protected monuments/sites and to take up the responsibility for its maintenance, conservation and development. The project received encouraging response and so far 31 entities have been shortlisted by the Oversight and Vision Committee.