Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2018

Notes:
The air force units of India and the United States are scheduled to participate in a 12-day joint exercise ‘Cope India 2019’ at two air force stations in West Bengal. The bilateral flying training programme will be held from December 3 to 14 of this year at two important airbases in West Bengal – Air Force Station Kalaikunda and Air Force Station Arjan Singh at Panagarh. Exercise CI19 is a long-standing bilateral US Pacific Air Forces (PACAF)-sponsored Field Training Exercise (FTX), conducted with the IAF, focused on enhancing US-Indian mutual cooperation and building on existing capabilities, aircrew tactics and force employment. The exercise will showcase US and India’s efforts and commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region. COPE INDIA began in 2004 as a fighter training exercise held at Air Force Station Gwalior. The exercise was last held in 2010.

Notes:
The World AIDS Day (WAD) is observed every year on 1st of December to raise awareness of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. The day provides an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, to show support for people living with HIV, and to commemorate those who have died from an AIDS-related illness. The 2018 theme is ‘Know your status’. It is estimated that around the world, 37 million people are living with HIV, the highest number ever, yet a quarter do not know that they have the virus. Hence, Knowing your HIV status enables people to make informed decisions about HIV prevention options, including services to prevent children from becoming infected with HIV, male and female condoms, harm reduction services for people who inject drugs, voluntary medical male circumcision and pre-exposure and post-exposure prophylaxis.

Notes:
The European Union has recently announced a long-term vision on combating climate change that aims to transform the bloc into the first carbon neutral major economy by 2050 – A Clean Planet for All . Under the plan, emissions of greenhouse gases after that date would have to be offset by planting trees or by burying the gases underground. Its plan will include steps such as investing in realistic technological solutions ( such as solar and wind energy ) to help lower carbon emissions. Thus, scientists said that net-zero emissions by 2050 are needed to have a fighting chance of keeping global temperatures under 1.5C this century. The Climate neutrality means your emissions are balanced by methods of removing warming gases from the atmosphere. So the warming emissions that are created by cars and power plants should be counteracted by the greenhouse gases removed from the air by the planting of new forests or through carbon capture technologies which would see the CO2 buried underground.

Notes:
India’s first owl festival was held at Pingori village in Purandar taluka of Pune from November 29. The two-day festival, organised by Ela Foundation (an NGO working towards nature education and conservation), will give information on owl conservation and feature art forms like pictures, paintings, lanterns, lamp shades, posters, origami, stitched articles, poems and stories on owls. It is a first-of-its-kind festival, which was organised with the intention of creating awareness about owl as a bird and debunking numerous superstitions associated with it. According to a report published by Traffic India and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in 2010, owls were found to be consumed and traded for a wide variety of purposes, including black magic, street performances, taxidermy, private aviaries/zoos, food and in folk medicines. Despite being protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act of India, the report has found owls to be highly prized and in demand for black magic purposes.

Notes:
Australia has become the first country in the world to recognise so-called orphanage trafficking as a form of modern-day slavery. Hence, it has criminalized the act of falsely inducing children into orphanages as a form of slavery, in what is believed to be the first move of its kind in the world. Under the new law, orphanage trafficking will be treated as a slavery and trafficking offense. The legislation forms part of a wider drive to stop Australians taking part in “voluntourism” schemes which harm rather than help the children. It is estimated 80% of children in orphanages around the world have at least one living parent but are in orphanages in a bid to attract international volunteers. This is what’s called “Orphanage trafficking” where children are actively recruited into orphanages for the purpose of exploitation and profit made from orphanage tourism, where people pay or donate to volunteer and visit orphanages.

Notes:
India will host the G20 summit in 2022, when the country celebrates its 75th year of Independence. The announcement was made at the closing ceremony of the 2018 G-20 held in Argentina’s captial Buenos Aires.The G-20 is a grouping of the world’s 20 major economies. Its comprise Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK and the U.S. Collectively, the G-20 economies account for nearly 90% of the gross world product, 80% of world trade, two-thirds of the world population, and approximately half of the world land area. Spain is a permanent guest invitee. Earlier, Italy was to host the international forum in 2022.

Notes:
Imran Hussain, the Delhi Environment minister, has been awarded the ‘Hero to Animals’ award by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India for banning the Chinese manjha (or glass-coated kite strings) in the national capital in 2017. He received a award for saving the lives of humans and animals by banning all forms of manja throughout the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The policy of PETA is to ensure animals do not suffer in laboratories, food industries, leather trade, recreational businesses like circus, roadshows. It is also actively involved in policy formulation and legislative work with governments in order to improve the quality of life of animals.

Notes:
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, popularly known by his initials AMLO, has been sworn-in as the new President of Mexico on December 1, 2018. He won the historic landslide victory at July 1 presidential election 2018 with over 50% of the popular vote. He started his six-year term with a promise to end the corruption, poverty and extreme violence that have plagued the country for more than a decade. This was the first time since the 1988 election that a presidential candidate was elected with an absolute majority (50%+1) of the votes cast. The President of Mexico is the head of state and government of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces.

Notes:
Atlawim Debebe of Ethiopia has won the 2018 Pune International Marathon with the timing of 2 hours 17 minutes 17 seconds. Teshome Getachew claimed second and Bekele Asefa third position. Both of them are also from Ethiopia.In women’s Full Marathon Pascalia Chepkogei from Kenya stood first with the timing of 2 hour 50 minutes 27 seconds. Among Indian runners this year also Karan Singh of Bombay Engineering Group stood first in Men’s category. In women’s Full marathon Urvi Tambe stood first amongst Indian participants. Along with 100 foreign runners, more than 15 thousand people participated in this oldest International Marathon this year. This is 33rd year of Pune International Marathon.

Notes:
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has recently announced a new initiative ‘PEETHA’ to create awareness about various government schemes and improve transparency. It also aims at improving transparency in the distribution of individual and social benefits. The acronym ‘PEETHA’ stands for Peoples Empowerment Enabling Transparency and Accountability. The PEETHA is a sub-scheme of the state government’s flagship Ama Gaon Ama Bikas yojana. As part of the initiative, camps will be organised at gram panchayat level from 15th to 20th of each month, beginning from December 2018. Every month the best panchayat in each Block will be given Rs 5 lakh for organising PEETHA. Upon completion of the camps, the best panchayats in each district will be awarded at the district Level. Similarly, panchayats, blocks and best districts will be awarded with special funds at the state level.