Current Affairs Quiz-December, 2019

Notes:
Particles, the French-Swiss film directed by Blaise Harrison won the Golden Peacock Award at the 50th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa. The IFFI 2019 concluded on November 28, 2019. The Golden Peacock Award includes a cash prize worth Rs 40 lakh, a trophy and a citation. The jury described ‘Particles’, which is produced by Estelle Fialon, as an “ambitious yet modest film about the mysteries of being a teenager.” The prize money is to be distributed equally between the director and producer.

Notes:
Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) and Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to organise ‘National Organic Festival of Women Entrepreneurs’. The event will be planned and organized through National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM), Sonepat, Haryana. NIFTEM Vice Chancellor has agreed to organize festival annually. NIFTEM is an academic institution under the administrative control of Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries.

Notes:
Priyanka Chopra Jonas will be honoured at the Marrakech International Film Festival for her contribution to cinema. Even though the festival celebrated Indian cinema back in 2012, this is the first time that an Indian celebrity is being honoured there. A tribute will be given to Priyanka Chopra Jonas at the mythical Jemaa El Fna Square in the presence of people and at a special venue where there have been no award ceremonies hosted in the past.

Notes:
On December 3, 2019 the former arts and culture minister Pritivirajsing Roopun was elected as president of Mauritius. His predecessor Ameenah Gurib-Fakim resigned in March 2018 after being embroiled in a scandal over her use of a credit card to buy luxury personal items. In Mauritius, the prime minister is head of the government and holds most political power while the President is head of the state but has no executive role and is considered the guardian of the Constitution.

Notes:
A powerful typhoon is blowing through the central Philippines, damaging homes and heading toward the capital, Manila. Typhoon Kammuri hit the eastern coast overnight and was moving west through Quezon province ripping off roofs, toppling trees and knocking out power. It had maximum sustained winds of 155 km per hour and gusts of up to 190 kmph. Nearly 90,000 residents were evacuating coastal and low-lying areas prone to flash floods and landslides.

Notes:
The 8th India-China joint training exercise ‘HAND-IN-HAND 2019’ with the theme counter terrorism under United Nations mandate is scheduled to be conduct at Umroi, Meghalaya from 07 to 20 December 2019. The aim of the exercise is to practice joint planning and conduct of counter terrorist operations in semi urban terrain.The exercise schedule is focused upon training on various lectures & drills associated with counter terrorist handling & firing with each others weapons, special heliborne operations and case studies of various operations carried out in counter terrorist environment. Two tactical exercises are scheduled during the training; one on counter terrorism scenario and the other on Humanitarian and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations.

Notes:
On December 2, 2019, the Ministry of Human Resource Development informed Lok Sabha that the “Indian Ranking Society” was approved by the ministry in August 2019. The aim of the society is to develop methodologies and systems to rank higher educational institutions in the country. The proposal was approved in the 127th meeting of the AICTE Executive Council. At present, the educational institutes of the country are ranked according to the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).

Notes:
The world’s best loved species are being slaughtered by widespread and dangerous criminal networks. On December 4, 2012, the first time that World Wildlife Conservation Day was officially recognized around the world and calls on individuals around the globe to sign its Wildlife Pledge to respect and protect wild animals.

Notes:
Amazon.com Inc is extending its cloud to 5G networks in partnership with Verizon Communications Inc, so developers can run latency-sensitive programs on mobile and connected devices. The program, called AWS Wavelength, is one of several new ways that Amazon Web Services is pushing its cloud into new territory. At the company’s annual re:Invent conference in Las Vegas, the world’s top cloud provider also announced new infrastructure called Local Zones, debuting in Los Angeles, that will help nearby users run speed-intensive applications like gaming.

Notes:
Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment conferred Uttar Pradesh with the National Award of Excellence for doing a commendable job in the field of rehabilitation of persons with disabilities (Divyangjan). Uttar Pradesh also received the award for the best state in the implementation of Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan. The department’s website also received the award as the best portal for being disabled-friendly while Varanasi has been awarded for offering the best rehabilitation services among the districts.