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  • Current Affairs 21st April 2019

    Updated : 21-Apr-2019

    Current Affairs 21st April 2019 - Important Points

    • CBSE to allow visual aids for disabled kids from - 2020
    • Who has been appointed as High Commissioner to South Africa ? - Jaideep Sarkar
    • First US female astronaut Jerrie Cobb died on - 18th April 2019

    Current Affairs 21st April 2019 - Details

    CBSE to allow visual aids for disabled kids from - 2020

    The CBSE has finalised to permit students to utilise magnifying glasses/portable video magnifiers during the Class X final examination, from 2020.
    The Central Board of Secondary Education, while notifying the exclusion informed that alternative-type questions will be delivered in lieu of questions having visual inputs for visually impaired aspirants in social science.
    Key Highlights 

    • Under the new order, Central Board of Secondary Education students will be permitted to utilise magnifying glasses/portable video magnifiers, in lieu of large-font question papers, starting from 2020.
    • The Central Board of Secondary Education affiliated schools have also been instructed to make sure that buildings are disabled friendly by 2020 with all the educational institutions, including hostels, libraries and  laboratories to have restriction-free access. 
    • The schools have also been notified not to deny admission to children with special needs in mainstream education.
      Other Details
      The agencies and groups authorised to contribute a medical certification for any specific disability as itemized by Central Board of Secondary Education include the Chief Medical Officer, Civil Surgeon,  Medical Superintendent of government hospitals under the control of either central/state governments, recognised institutes of national level including National Association for the Blind and Spastic Society of India and non-governmental groups practitioners registered with the Rehabilitation Council of India/government of the respective states.

    Who has been appointed as High Commissioner to South Africa ? - Jaideep Sarkar

    Diplomat Jaideep Sarkar was designated as India's High Commissioner to South Africa. His selection was done by the Union External Affairs Ministry. He is supposed to take up the assignment shortly. Jaideep Sarkar is a 1987-batch Indian Foreign Service officer. He is presently working as India's  ambassador in Bhutan. Earlier to this, Sarkar was India's Ambassador to Israel from October 2012-January 2016.

    He has also worked in Indian Missions in Tokyo, Seoul and  Bangladesh. Sarkar served in the Union Ministry of Finance during 1992-1996, tackling with economic relations with EU member nations.

    In 2004, Sarkar joined the PM's Office as a Director and  dealt with a number of ministries including the Ministry of External Affairs, Finance and  Planning.

    India’s Ambassador to Lebanon

    The Union External Affairs Ministry also selected Suhel Ajaz Khan as the Ambassador to Lebanon. Suhel Ajaz Khan is currently working as India's Deputy Chief of Mission in Saudi Arabia.

    First US female astronaut Jerrie Cobb died on - 18th April 2019

    NASA's 1st female astronaut aspirant, pilot Jerrie Cobb, has lately died. Cobb died in Florida at age 88 last month. News of her death came on April 18th, 2019 from journalist Miles O& Brien, working as a family spokesman.
    In year 1961, Cobb became the 1st female to pass astronaut testing. Altogether, 13 females cleared the
    arduous physical testing and became known as the Mercury 13. But NASA already had its Mercury 7 astronauts, all jet test pilots and all military persons. None of the Mercury 13 ever reached space, despite Cobb's testimony in 1962 before a Congressional panel.
    About Jerrie Cobb

    • Jerrie Cobb from March 5th, 1931-March 18th, 2019 was an American aviator. She was also part of
      the Mercury 13 a group of females designated to undergo physiological screening at the same time as the original Mercury Seven astronauts, as part of a private, non-NASA programme.
    • By age 19, Cobb was teaching males to fly and at the age of 21, she was delivering military fighters and  4-engine bombers to foreign Air Forces around the world.
    • When she became the 1st female to fly in the Paris Air Show, the world's largest air exposition, her associated airmen named her Pilot of the Year and awarded her the Amelia Earhart Gold Medal of Achievement.
    • Cobb worked for decades as a humanitarian aid pilot in the Amazon jungle. She developed in 1998 to make another pitch for space, as NASA prepared to launch John Glenn on shuttle Discovery at age of 77.
    • Cobb contended unsuccessfully that the research should include an older female.