Current Affairs Quiz-December, 2019

Notes:
Two IITs and the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) have joined hands to develop Gandhipedia, an online repository of books, letters and speeches written by Mahatma Gandhi, to commemorate his 150th birth anniversary.The entire project will be done with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In the first phase, over 40 books written by Mahatma Gandhi will be digitised and indexed and their portions tweeted. IIT Gandhinagar is also a part of the project along with IIT Kharagpur and NSCM, an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Culture.

Notes:
Union Government is planning to set up a new rocket launch pad near Kulasekarapattinam in Tamil Nadu. At present, the Indian Space Research organisation (ISRO) has two launch pads at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDCC) in Sriharikotta, Andhra Pradesh. The development comes on the backdrop of increasing launches from India, both for domestic as well as international customers.
The new launch pad is intended to be used for future Indian rockets including- Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mk III, Avatar Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), Unified Modular Launch Vehicle (UMLV), Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), and even older ones like Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). However, the government did not elaborated on Launchpad’s exact usage.

Notes:
The Election Commission of India (ECI)  has recently recognized the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) as state party of Haryana and alloted the symbol of “key” for the party. The decision in this regard was taken on the basis of the poll performance of the party in the recent 2019 Assembly elections in Haryana. The JJP was formed in December 2018 by a breakaway faction of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) & won 10 seats in the recently-held Haryana Assembly elections and formed the government with the BJP.

Notes:
Steve Smith has become the fastest man to score 7,000 Test runs in the ongoing second Test against Pakistan. He broke English great Wally Hammond’s record that had stood since 1946. Smith also passed Bradman’s 6,996 Test runs.  It took Smith 70 Tests to do so, while Bradman needed only 52.

Notes:
Eminent Malayalam poet Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri has been chosen as the recipient of the 55th Jnanpith Award for the year 2019. Born in 1926, Akkitham is one of the most revered names in Malayalam poetry. Apart from poetry, his literary excellence has footprints in genres like drama, reminiscence, critical essays, children literature, short stories and translation. He has authored 55 books out of which 45 are collections of poems including “Khanda Kavyas”, “Katha Kavyas”, “Charitha Kavyas” and songs. His works have also been translated into many Indian and foreign languages.

Notes:
A court in Suriname on November 29,2019 convicted President Desi Bouterse of murder for the execution of 15 opponents in 1982 following a coup to seize power, sentencing the man who has dominated the former Dutch colony’s recent history to 20 years in prison. Opposition parties called for Bouterse, currently in China on an official visit, to step down. The military court that found him guilty has not yet ordered his arrest.

Notes:
World AIDS Day is observed on 1 December every year. The day aims to raise public awareness about AIDS. The day aims to motivate the people who are infected by the fatal disease. The theme of the 2019 World AIDS Day is Communities Makes The difference. The theme provides an opportunity to recognize the essential role that communities have played and continue to play in the AIDS response at the local, national and international levels.
Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a pandemic disease that is caused due to the infection of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). HIV causes damage to the immune system.

Notes:
13th South Asian Games have formally begun in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal.President of Nepal Bidya Devi Bhandari declared games open in a glittering ceremony at Dasaratha Rangshala in Kathmandu on December 1. Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Chairman of National Assembly Ganesh Timilsina, Deputy Prime Minister Ishwor Pokharel, Ministers from South Asian countries and a large number of other dignitaries also graced the opening ceremony. Over 2700 athletes from seven South Asian Countries participated in the march past.

Notes:
The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery is a yearly event on December 2, organized by the United Nations General Assembly. The Day was first celebrated in 1986. The convention for the suppression of the traffic in persons and of the exploitation of the prostitution of others was approved by the United Nations General Assembly on December 2, 1949. Besides, by resolution 57/195 of 18 December 2002, the Assembly proclaimed 2004 the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition.

Notes:
Centre launched the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 2.0 across the country. The government’s flagship scheme is aimed at immunizing children under the age of 2 years and pregnant women against eight vaccine preventable diseases. The IMI covers vaccines for diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, measles, meningitis and Hepatitis B. Vaccines for Japanese encephalitis and hemophilus influenzal are also being provided in selected areas. The IMI 2.0 aims to achieve targets of full immunization coverage in 272 districts spread over 27 States. The IMI 2.0 will be carried out between December 2019 and March 2020.