Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2021

Notes:
Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) introduced a major national initiative, “System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research” known as “SAFAR”. It enables greater metropolitan cities of India to provide location specific information on air quality.
As per SAFAR, the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) in the national capital stood at 372 in the ‘very poor’ category. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.

Notes:
Magdalena Andersson, leader of the centre-left Social Democratic Party, became the country’s first female prime minister.
But she resigned within hours of taking the job, after her budget was rejected in favour of one proposed by the opposition. Now Magdalena Andersson has been reappointed Prime Minister of the country.

Notes:
‘World Aids Day’ is observed every year on December 1, across the world. It was first observed in 1988.
“End inequalities. End Aids. End pandemics.” is the theme for this year’s World Aids Day as per the UN. The Day aims to create awareness about the disease and working towards ending the stigma surrounding it.

Notes:
According to data released by the Union finance ministry, the GST Revenue was at ₹1,31,526 crore for the second month in a row.
It is 25% higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year and 27% over the 2019 value. The highest ever GST collection of ₹1,41,384 crore was reported in April. This is the fifth consecutive month in which collections have crossed the ₹1 lakh crore benchmark.

Notes:
Indian athlete Anju Bobby George has been named as the Woman of the Year Award by World Athletics for encouraging young Indian girls to take up sports and fight for gender equality.
The athlete was 2003 Paris World Championships bronze medalist in long jump. She became the first Indian athlete ever to win a medal in a World Championships in Athletics. She serves as the Chairperson of TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) and is also the Executive member of Khelo India project.

Notes:
Every year, On December 3 the Feast of St Francis Xavier is celebrated in the state of Goa, to pay homage to St Francis Xavier, in which people from across the globe visit Goa, to observe the death anniversary of St Francis Xavier.
St Francis Xavier was a Catholic missionary who preached about Jesus Christ to people around the world.

Notes:
The 11th edition of Exercise EKUVERIN between India and Maldives will be conducted at Kadhdhoo Island, Maldives.
The exercise will enhance synergy and inter-operability between the Armed Forces of both countries. It helps in understanding transnational terrorism both on land and at sea, conducting Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Insurgency Operations.

Notes:
The Uttar Pradesh government has given its approval to implement Atma Nirbhar Krishak Integrated Development Scheme in the state from 2021-22.
Under the scheme 1475 farmer producer organisations will be formed in the next three years in each block of the state. It will also help to achieve the target of utilising the budget of 1000 crores allotted by the centre under Agriculture infrastructure fund.

Notes:
World Malaria Report 2021 has been released by the World Health Organization (WHO). As per the report, global efforts to tackle malaria suffered due to COVID-19 in 2020.
There were estimated 627,000 malaria deaths in 2020, which is an increase of 12 per cent over 2019. The report also warns that if expeditious action is not taken, the world is in the danger of seeing an immediate resurgence of the disease, especially in Africa.

Notes:
Japanese Entrepreneur and Fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa and producer Yozo Hirano, blasted off for the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft along with Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin.
They are the first self-paying space tourists to visit the space station since 2009. Maezawa and Hirano are scheduled to spend 12 days in space.