General Knowledge Test - 4

Serbia won their first world title, defeating Italy in five sets at the final. This was the first all-european final in the Women's World Championship history and the first final since 1990 that not featured a team from the Americas. Reigning olympic champions China won the 3rd place match, defeating Netherlands in straight sets. For the first time since the 1974 Championship in Mexico, no team from the Americas reached the final four. Tijana Bošković from Serbia was elected the MVP.

The 2018 World Women's Volleyball Championship was the 18th staging of the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship, contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The final tournament was held in Japan from 29 September to 20 October 2018.

Mattur is a village in Shimoga district near the city of Shivamogga in Karnataka state, India. To this day, Sanskrit is spoken in day-to-day activities.

The Ashoka Chakra was awarded posthumously to Commando Jyoti Prakash Nirala who was a Guard Commando of the Air Force. He died fighting terrorists in Jammu & Kashmir.

Senior Advocate Tushar Mehta has been appointed as Solicitor General of India (SGI). He will remain in office till 30th of June, 2020 or till further orders. Mr Mehta is currently serving as the Additional Solicitor General. The post of Solicitor General was vacant since October last year after the resignation of Ranjit Kumar.

US duo William D. Nordhaus and Paul M. Romer have won the 2018 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for research “about innovation, climate and economic growth". Laureate Romer was honoured for his work on the endogenous growth theory, which has generated vast amounts of new research into the regulations and policies that encourage new ideas and long-term prosperity. While Laureate Nordhaus was specifically honoured for “integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis". His research shows that the most efficient remedy for problems caused by greenhouse gas emissions is a global scheme of carbon taxes uniformly imposed on all countries. Nordhaus was the first person to create a quantitative model that describes the global interplay between the economy and the climate. His model is now widespread and is used to examine the consequences of climate policy interventions, for example carbon taxes. & The pair will share the 9 million Swedish kronor (S$1.3 million) prize.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) launched a nationwide campaign on April 9 at National Bal Bhawan in Delhi to spread awareness about availing Vitamin D through natural sunlight and consuming fortified food among school-going children.

The project was implemented in collaboration with the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), North MCD and several private schools through a Joint Noon Assembly. Twenty-five schools from the National Capital Region were among the participants.

"Despite the fact that most children suffer from Vitamin D deficiency in India, most of us are not aware of its serious consequences. FSSAI has always endeavoured to educate the community about such pressing issues. Project Dhoop's Noon Assembly is an innovative and effective concept to ensure that school students get adequate Vitamin D through sunlight, while also opting to choose food products like milk and edible oils that are fortified with Vitamins A and D," says Pawan Agarwal, CEO, FSSAI. He pointed out that opting for fortified foods (with +F symbol) is a simple and inexpensive way to address micronutrient deficiencies without any radical change in behaviour or eating patterns. He pointed out that “both fortified milk and fortified edible oil are now readily available across the country."

Project Dhoop urges schools to shift their morning assembly to noon time, mainly between 11am and 1pm to ensure maximum absorption of Vitamin D in students through natural sunlight.

Vitamin D deficiency occurs due to overuse of sunscreen, wearing clothes that cover most of the skin, working all day in an air-conditioned atmosphere, and other factors. “Also, the school uniforms needs to be designed in a way that at least face and arms are exposed to sunlight, which would be equivalent to 18 per cent of body surface, and the exposure has to be at least for 30-40 minutes," says R K Marwaha, Scientific Advisor and senior consultant endocrinology at International Life Sciences Institute, India. He adds that there is a popular belief that morning sunshine is the best for our bones, however, it is actually the sunshine from 11am to 1pm that is most beneficial in increasing Vitamin D levels in human body because of the best ultiraviolet B (UVB) radiation.

Representatives from various schools felt that shifting morning assembly to noon assembly could be a little step that can help children grow into healthy adults.