Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2018

Notes:
Rio Olympics Silver medallist PV Sindhu became the first Indian to lift the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals title at Guangzhou, China. In the summit clash, Sindhu defeated Japanese Nozomi Okuhara, in straight games, 21-19, 21-17 to claim the top honours of the season-ending event and her first title of the year. With the win, Sindhu also equalled her head-to-head record with Okuhara to 6-6.

Notes:
The Vijay Diwas is commemorated every year on 16th of December to mark India’s victory over Pakistan in 1971 during the war for the independence of Bangladesh from Pakistan. The end of war resulted in unilateral & unconditional surrender of Pakistani Army. On this day in 1971, the chief of the Pakistani forces, General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, along with 93,000 troops, surrendered to the allied forces consists of Indian Army and Mukti Bahini, led by Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora in Dhaka after their defeat in the Liberation War. The end of the war also resulted in subsequent secession of East Pakistan into Bangladesh. The anniversary of Vijay Divas is observed across India by paying tributes to the martyrs who laid down their lives for the nation.

Notes:
The state of Jharkhand has been selected for 2018 Krishi Karman award for producing best quality rice in the year 2016-17 by the Union Ministry of Agriculture. The award to be given away in February 2019 will carry a cash prize of Rs 2 crore, a trophy and a commendation letter, which will be handed over to the State representative in the Agriculture Fair scheduled to be organised in Delhi in the month of February-March, 2019. As a gesture of appreciation to the farmers of the state for achieving the milestone, two progressive farmers, i.e. one male and one female, would also be given ‘Agriculture Minister’s Krishi Karman Award’.

Notes:
Ramphal Pawar, an IPS officer from the West Bengal cadre, has been appointed the new Director of National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB). The NCRB is responsible for collecting and analysing crime data as defined by the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It is headquartered in New Delhi and is part of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Apart from this, Intelligence Bureau (IB) Director Rajiv Jain and Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) Secretary Anil K Dhasmana, both of whose two-year terms were scheduled to end later this month, have been given six-month extensions. As per officials, the Central Government does not want to disturb the continuity in the IB and the R&AW and wanted a new government to take a decision on appointments on these key posts after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Notes:
India’s first military flight using blended bio-jet fuel has been successfully flown by Indian Air Force (IAF) through an AN-32 transport aircraft in Chandigarh. Bio-jet fuel is made from Jatropha oil sourced from the Chattisgarh Biodiesel Development Authority and processed at the CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun. The project is a combined effort of IAF, DRDO, Directorate General Aeronautical Quality Assurance (DGAQA) and CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum. Now, IAF intends to fly the An-32 transport aircraft using biojet fuel on 26th January 2019 in the Republic Day flypast.

Notes:
An international team of astronomers has discovered the most-distant object ever spotted in our solar system. It’s provisional designation is ‘2018 VG18’ & nicknamed as “Farout” for its extremely distant location. The pinkish dwarf planet is more than 100 times farther from the sun than Earth is — and almost four times more distant than Pluto. Farout is about 120 astronomical units (AU), where 1 AU is defined as the distance between the Earth and the Sun. It is discovered by Scott S Sheppard from Carnegie Institution for Science, David Tholen from University of Hawaii, and Chad Trujillo from Northern Arizona University in the US. On 17th Deember 2018, Farour’s discovery was announced by the International Astronomical Union (IAU)’s Minor Planet Center. The second-most-distant observed solar system object is Eris at about 96 AU & Pluto is currently at about 34 AU.

Notes:
The Department of Posts (DoP) has recently released the commemorative Postage Stamp on Rajkumar Shukla, who was associated with Champaran Satyagraha of 1917. In drawing the attention of Mahatma Gandhi to the plight of peasants suffering under an oppressive system established by European indigo planters in Champaran (Bihar), Rajkumar Shukla made a seminal contribution culminating in the launch of the Champaran Satyagraha in 1917 by Mahatma Gandhi ji. This struggle was a turning point in India’s fight for independence. The DoP has been paying a tribute to eminent personalities who have made a significant contribution to public life especially freedom fighters. With this stamp, the Department has released 43 issues in the current calendar year.

Notes:
The 9th meeting of India-ROK Joint Commission (ROK/ South Korea) was held in New Delhi on December 18-19, 2018. South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha co-chaired the meeting with her Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj and reviewed the progress in multifaceted cooperation under the Special Strategic Partnership between the two countries. Both sides agreed to raise the quantum of the bilateral trade to US $50 billion by the year 2030.

Notes:
On December 19, ISRO has successfully launched its military communication satellite GSAT 7A through launch vehicle ‘GSLV-F11’into the orbit from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR) at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. Dubbed ‘Angry Bird’, GSAT 7A is designed to expand network capabilities to the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Ku-band over the Indian region. It will do this by connecting many of the ground radar stations, airbases and aircrafts operated by the IAF, and is also expected to boost some of their network-dependant warfare and drone capabilities. GSLV–F11 is ISRO’s fourth generation launch vehicle with three stages. The four liquid strap-ons and a solid rocket motor at the core form the first stage. The second stage is equipped with a high thrust engine using liquid fuel. The Cryogenic Upper Stage forms the third and final stage of the vehicle. The 2,250 kg GSAT-7A is a geostationary satellite & has a mission life of 8 years.

Notes:
Gujarat has emerged as the top performer among States and Union Territories (UT) in the first-ever ranking of the Start-up Ecosystem across the country. The ranking was released by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP). Gujarat, with 100 percentile, has performed better than all other states in all the 7 areas including start up policy, incubation support, seeding innovation and scaling innovation. Meanwhile, Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha and Rajasthan, with a score of more than 85 percentile, have been adjudged the top performers. Other States, namely, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana were identified as “leaders”.