Current Affair MCQ for 2025-04-08

Notes: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav launched the four-day School Chale Hum campaign in Bhopal on April 1, 2025. All CM RISE Schools in the state will be renamed Maharishi Sandipani Vidyalaya. The Education Portal 3.0 was launched to digitize school education processes. The campaign runs from April 1-4, 2025, aiming to improve enrollment, retention, and timely textbook distribution. 5.6 crore textbooks (Classes 1-12), 1.02 crore Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) workbooks, and 26 lakh Bridge Course books will be provided for free.

Notes: The Indian Naval Sailing Vessel Tarini reached Cape Town, South Africa, in its final international stop of the Navika Sagar Parikrama II global circumnavigation. INSV Tarini is a 56-foot, indigenously built sailing vessel commissioned in February 2017 by the Indian Navy. It was built by Aquarius Shipyard Ltd., Goa, under the Make in India initiative. It has advanced navigation, satellite communication, and emergency steering for extreme conditions. It was named after the Tara-Tarini hill shrine in Odisha, historically revered by sailors. The expedition began on October 2, 2024, covering 23,400 nautical miles across three oceans and three major capes in eight months.

Notes: China launched new military drills named “Strait Thunder-2025A” in the middle and southern parts of the Taiwan Strait. A strait is a narrow body of water connecting two larger water bodies. The Taiwan Strait, also called the Black Ditch, was named Formosa (“Beautiful”) by Portuguese navigators in the late 16th century. It lies between China’s Fukien province and Taiwan, connecting the South China Sea and the East China Sea. This strait is a major global shipping route, with 44% of the world’s container fleet passing through. The Median Line, or Davis Line, runs through it but is not recognized by China.

Notes: The Rajya Sabha passed the Protection of Interests in Aircraft Objects Bill, 2025, to implement international agreements on aviation leasing. It aligns with the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (Cape Town Convention, 2001) and its Protocol on Aircraft Equipment. India signed these agreements in 2008. The bill secures rights over aircraft, helicopters, and engines, ensuring legal clarity. It empowers the central government to make rules and designates the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) as the registry authority for aircraft registration and de-registration, protecting creditors and aviation stakeholders under clear legal guidelines.

Notes: The Indian Army’s Air Defence warriors from the White Tiger Division demonstrated their operational skills in a live missile-firing exercise using the 9K33 Osa-AK missile system. The 9K33 Osa-AK is a Russian-built, highly mobile, low-altitude, short-range tactical surface-to-air defence missile system. It was developed in the 1960s and fielded by the Soviet Union in 1972. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) designates it as “SA-8 Gecko.” The missile system has a length of 9.1 meters, a width of 2.78 meters, and weighs up to 18 tonnes. It integrates the transporter-erector-launcher and radar (TELAR) for independent detection, tracking, and engagement of aerial threats.

Notes: A rare long-snouted vine snake called Ahaetulla longirostris was recently rediscovered during a rhino release at Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in Uttar Pradesh. This is the first sighting in Uttar Pradesh and only the second in India, with the first being in Valmiki Tiger Reserve, Bihar. The snake’s usual habitat is in Southeast Asia, and it was also spotted earlier in parts of Odisha. It belongs to the Colubridae family, mostly made up of non-venomous snakes, and has a long green or brown slender body for camouflage. Dudhwa Tiger Reserve lies on the Indo-Nepal border in Lakhimpur Kheri district, Uttar Pradesh, and includes Dudhwa National Park, Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary, Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, and nearby forest areas.

Notes: The five-day Madhavpur Ghed fair organized in Madhavpur, Porbandar district, Gujarat, celebrating the divine union of Dwarikadhish Shri Krishna and Rukshmani ji. It promotes cultural unity between Western and Northeastern India under the vision of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat (One India, Great India) launched by the Prime Minister. More than 1600 artists from Northeast states and Gujarat presents cultural performances.

Notes: A new study by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has used Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) barcoding to correctly identify blackfly species that spread river blindness. River blindness, also called Onchocerciasis, is caused by the parasitic worm Onchocerca volvulus and spreads through the bite of infected blackflies of the genus Simulium. These blackflies breed near fast-flowing rivers and streams and mainly affect people in rural and remote areas. The disease causes severe skin itching, skin damage, and in serious cases, permanent blindness. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies river blindness as a major Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD), especially in sub-Saharan Africa, Yemen, and Latin America.

Notes: The Ministry of Finance is launching the One State-One Regional Rural Bank (RRB) policy to improve efficiency and cut costs by reducing RRBs from 43 to 28. This is part of the fourth phase of RRB consolidation, with 15 RRBs set to be merged across several states. Andhra Pradesh, with four RRBs, will see major restructuring, while Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, each with three RRBs, will also undergo consolidation. States like Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Rajasthan, each having two RRBs, will see mergers. RRBs were created under the Regional Rural Bank Act, 1976 to support rural credit for farmers, artisans, and workers.

Notes: India’s Hitesh Gulia won the gold medal in the men’s 70 kilogram category at the World Boxing Cup 2025 held in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil. He fought in the red corner and defeated Odel Kamara of England in the final match. Indian boxer Abhinash Jamwal secured the silver medal in the men’s 65 kilogram category after losing to Yuri Reis of Brazil with a score of 0-5. Earlier, Manish Rathore won the bronze medal in the men’s 55 kilogram category, adding to India’s medal tally at the international tournament.