PIB & AIR News 24th April 2019

Questions:

1. What is the difference between a watershed & a springshed?
2. Name all the states of Indian Himalayan Region.
3. KAZIND 2018 is a joint army exercise between?
4. What do you understand by "Sons of the Soil" doctrine?
5. Who introduced "Sattriya" dance form? It propagates which faith?

Today's News:

1)World Book Day 2019:- 

• 23rd of April is observed as World Book by UNESCO and other related organisations every year. 
• The city of Sharjah has been selected as the World Book Capital for the year 2019.
• It will be succeeded by Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in the year 2020
• World Book Day 2019 is the 24th edition and the theme is centred around round celebrating literature and reading with a particular focus on enhancing and protecting indigenous languages. The theme is in line with the celebration of the International Year of the Indigenous Languages by the UN.
• Often also called the World Book and Copyright Day, it aims to promote the joy of books and the art of reading. 
• UNESCO chose 23rd April for the World Book Day to pay tribute to great literary figures including William Shakespeare, Miguel Cervantes and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega who died on this day and was finalised in the year 1995 in the UNESCO General Conference, held in Paris.

2)23 April is observed as English Language Day every year

• Aim: To commemorate both the birthday and date of death of William Shakespeare.
• The purpose of the UN’s language days is to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to promote equal use of all six official languages throughout the Organization. 
• Under the initiative of UN Language Days, UN celebrates six separate days, each dedicated to one of the Organization’s six official languages
• These are Arabic(18 December) , Chinese (20 April) , English(23 April) , French (20 March), Russian(6 June) and Spanish(23 April).

3)Drugs Technical Advisory Board:- Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) is the highest statutory decision-making body on technical matters related to drugs in the country. It is constituted as per the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

It is part of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

4)National Panchayati Raj Day
It is the national day of Panchayati Raj System in India celebrated by Ministry of Panchayati Raj on 24 April annually. Then Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh declared the first National Panchayati Raj Day on 24th April 2010.

5)UAE Cabinet Clears National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031:- Taking a huge step towards embracing emerging technology, the UAE this week cleared the national strategy for artificial intelligence. 

• Titled ‘AI Strategy 2031’, this plan will improve the UAE’s government performance and increase living standards and work towards harnessing new tech for transport, tourism, health and education sectors, among others.

6)Which UN agency has listed the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy among world’s major industrial accidents of 20th century?

• The International Labour Organization (ILO) has recently released the report titled 'The Safety and Health at the Heart of the Future of Work - Building on 100 years of experience'. 
• In it, the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy which killed thousands of people is among the world's "major industrial accidents" of the 20th century (after 1919).
• In December (Midnight 2 and 3rd) 1984, at least 30 tons of methyl isocyanate gas was released from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in the Madhya Pradesh capital and it affected more than 600,000 workers and nearby inhabitants.
• Apart from the Bhopal gas tragedy, its list included the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion in the erstwhile Soviet Ukraine, the 2011 Fukushima disaster and the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2013, which killed 1,132 people.