Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2018

Notes:
Ullas Narayan has created history by winning India’s first ever International medal in Ultra Running. He finished third at the 2018 International Association of Ultra Running (IAU) 24 Hour Asia & Oceania Championship in Taipei. A group bronze medal was also won by the Indian team which had Narayan (250 km), Sunil Sharma (202 km) and LL Meena (192 km). Ultra races involve running over extremely long distances which are far longer than the traditional races. These races take place over two modalities – either over a set distance like 50 km, 100 km and longer events or a set time (like 6 hr, 24 hr, and multi-day events).

Notes:
On December 5, India Water Impact Summit (IWIS-2018) has been inaugurated by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi. The discussions this year will be on the rejuvenation of the Ganga River Basin. Here, the spotlight will be on 5 states viz. Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi and Bihar, to showcase the efforts and works going on within the respective states. The 2018 Summit also introduced the inaugural Ganga Financing Forum (GFF) that will bring a number of institutions to a common knowledge, information and partnership platform. The 3-days summit is jointly organized by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and the Centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (cGanga). The Summit is an annual event where stakeholders will discuss and develop model solutions for some of the biggest water-related problems in the country. Nearly 200 domestic and international participants from nearly 15 countries are participating in the summit.

Notes:
According to the study by the Global Carbon Project, India is the fourth highest emitter of CO2 (carbon dioxide) in the world, accounting for 7% of global emissions in 2017. India’s emissions look set to continue their strong growth by an average of 6.3% in 2018, with growth across all fuels — coal (7.1%), oil (2.9%) and gas (6%). The world’s top 10 Co2 emitters were China, the US, the EU, India, Russia, Japan, Germany, Iran, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. The study said that while China and India still rely heavily on coal, the US and the EU are slowly decarbonising. It further said that India can continue to deploy solar farms, leveraging its leadership of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) to displace coal and clean up its smog-choked cities. The study was recently released on the occasion of the 2018 UN Climate Summit (COP24) in Katowice, Poland. It warned that global emissions of Co2 from fossil fuels and industry are projected to rise for the second consecutive year in 2018 by more than two percent to a new record mainly due to sustained growth in oil and gas use.

Notes:
Maulana Asrar-ul-Haque Qasmi (76), noted Islamic scholar and Congress Lok Sabha MP from Bihar’s Kishanganj constituency, has passed away on December 7, 2018. Qasmi won the Kishanganj seat in 2009 general elections by contesting on an Indian National Congress ticket after five consecutive failures. He retained his constituency in the 2014 general elections by defeating BJP’s Dilip Kumar Jaiswal. He was a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and also a founder member of the All India Milli Council.

Notes:
The International Volunteer Day (IVD) is observed every year by The United Nations (UN) on December 5 to recognise the volunteers worldwide and their efforts in making peace and sustainable development a reality. It offers an opportunity for volunteer-involving organizations and individual volunteers to promote volunteerism, encourage governments to support volunteer efforts and recognize volunteer contributions to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at local, national and international levels. The 2018 theme “Volunteers build Resilient Communities” focuses on how volunteers can build resilient communities. The IVD 2018 celebrates volunteer efforts that strengthen local ownership and the resilience of the community in the face of natural disasters, economic stresses and political shocks.

Notes:
On December 07, the Annual Startup India Venture Capital Summit 2018 has been organised by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) in collaboration with the Government of Goa with theme ‘Mobilizing Global Capital for Innovation in India’ in Goa. The focus of the Summit was on the huge return-generating potential of India’s vast and diverse market monetized through cutting-edge technologies and supported by investor-friendly regulations. The event showcased the Indian startup opportunity for funds from around the world. Over 150 participants attended the event. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a sister organisation of the World Bank Group, and the Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (IVCA) were partners for this initiative.

Notes:
On December 7, the 2nd edition of Military Literature Festival (MLF) 2018 was held in Chandigarh with an aim to offer an opportunity for the younger generation to get acquainted with India’s glorious military heritage. It also brought a host of cultural activities, food cuisines and competitions to the public. Besides, marshal dances, weapons display, medallion gallery, artists’ corner, cultural activities and exhibitions, food and cuisine, book fair, children’s Saragarhi Samvadh are amongst other activities to reverberate the minds of participants and visitors with tales of India’s soldiers during the three-day event. The fest was also dedicated to the valour of over 74,000 Indians who had laid down their lives in World War I. This year also marks the centenary of the Great War of 1914-1918. The fest was a joint initiative of military historian and Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and Punjab Governor VP Singh Badnore.

Notes:
On December 8, Shubhankar Sharma has become the fifth and the youngest Indian golfer to clinch the Asian Tour Order of Merit after a groundbreaking year of achievements. With this achievement, He joined the exclusive club of Indians who have achieved the feat in the past – Jyoti Randhawa (2002), Arjun Atwal (2003), Jeev Milkha Singh (2006 and 2008) and Anirban Lahiri (2015).

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has recently raised the government’s contribution to National Pension Scheme (NPS) to 14% of basic salary from the current 10%. However, minimum employee contribution will remain at 10%. The Cabinet also allowed government employees to commute 60% of the fund accumulated at the time of retirement, up from 40% at present. Also, employees will have the option to invest in either fixed income instruments or equities. As per the Cabinet decision, if the employee decides not to commute any portion of the accumulated fund in NPS at the time of retirement and transfers 100% to annuity scheme, then his pension would be more than 50% of his last drawn pay. The following changes will come into effect from the beginning of a financing year, meaning April 1, 2019.

Notes:
After the approval of the Supreme Court and the Bombay High Court, a pilot project for e-payments service will be started at the Pune District Court complex in Shivajinagar on December 15 to bring transparency to cash transactions. The facility will be available into the nazar (clerical) offices in the court, and civil lawyers & litigants can pay court fees, various fines, penalties, judicial deposits, rent, maintenance, etc. The e-payment facility will be available on ‘pay.ecourt.gov.in/epay’ and will help end the serpentine queues on court premises to pay cash. Hence, this will be the first time such a facility is being started anywhere in the country. There will be no extra charge for payments up to Rs 2,000, while the Pune district court administration is also working to facilitate payments above Rs 2,000 at nil or minimal cost through PoS or online services.