Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2018

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:
Pandit Arun Bhaduri (75), the renowned Hindustani classical singer, has passed away in Kolkata, West Bengal on December 17, 2018. He is considered to be one of the masters of Bengali songs and Bhajans. Bhaduri was an exponent on Kirana and Rampur Gharana. He has fused all these styles beautifully to create an inimitable style of his own. Some notable disciples of Him are Koushik Bhattacharjee, Kasturi Bandopadhyay, Tushar Dutta, Indrani Mukherjee and many more.

Notes:
The United Arab Emriates (UAE) government has officially declared 2019 as Year of Tolerance to strengthen the nation’s role of encouraging stability and prosperity in the region. As per officials, the ‘Year of Tolerance’ would be an extension of the current ‘Year of Zayed’, which celebrates the values of the country’s founding father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan. This year, the UAE announced it will be a global co-ordinator for co-operation within a new Global Tolerance Alliance to promote acceptance around the world. The Special Olympic World Games, to be held in Abu Dhabi from March 14-21 in 2019, are also expected to feature heavily in a year-long series of events promoting tolerance.

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:
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:
The book “A Rural Manifesto – Realising India’s Future through her Villages” has been authored by BJP MP Varun Gandhi. In it, he suggested solutions to address the concerns of rural India. The book seeks to open a national conversation on rural distress & highlighted the potential solutions in development policy with a focus on making the rural economy resilient. In this heartfelt and timely book, covering facets of the Indian rural economy, Feroze Varun Gandhi shines a bright light on the travails of the marginal farmer and asks searching questions on why the rural economy remains in doldrums, six decades after Independence.

Notes:
As per latest report of Reporters without Borders (RSF), Afghanistan is the most deadliest country for journalists in 2018, with 13 deaths, followed by Syria (11) and Yemen (8). India has emerged among the world’s fifth-most deadliest place for journalists alongside a first-time entrant in the list – the United States. The report titled ‘Worldwide Round-up of Journalists Killed, Detained, Held Hostage’, highlighted that the risk journalists face even in countries like India which are not even at war. It observed that the killing of journalists were carried out using barbaric methods. In India, six journalists have been murdered in 2018 and many others were the targets of murder attempts, physical attacks, and threats. In addition, the journalists witnessed hate campaigns against them, including incitement to murder, which is a common thing on social networks. However, the RSF highlighted some positive news from Iraq, where no journalist was killed for the first time since the US-led invasion of 2003.

Notes:
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has launched the “Asiatic Lion Conservation Project” with an aim to protect and conserve the world’s last ranging free population of Asiatic Lion and its associated ecosystem. The total budget of the project for 3 years that amounts to nearly Rs. 9784 lakh will be funded from the Centrally Sponsored Scheme- Development of Wildlife Habitat (CSS-DWH) with the contributing ratio being 60:40 of Central and State share. The conservation of Asiatic Lions has always been a priority of Government of India (GoI). The project activities is envisaged in a manner to cause habitat improvement, scientific interventions, disease control and veterinary care supplemented with adequate eco development works for the fringe population in order to ensure a stable and viable Lion population in the Country. The 2015 census showed a population of 523 Asiatic Lions in the Gir Protected Area Network of 1648.79 sq. km.

Notes:
The National Mathematics Day (NMD) is celebrated every year in India on December 22 to commemorate the birth anniversary of great mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. The day also recognizes his contribution to the world of mathematics, which includes mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions. The NMD was declared by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2012 to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Ramanujan. Born in 1887 in Erode, Madras Presidency (now Tamil Nadu), Ramanujan’s affinity for Mathematics was such that he failed in college exams because of his negligence for non-mathematical subjects. However, his talents were recognized by a mathematician at Madras Port Trust were Ramanujan had started working as a clerk in 1912. In 1917, Ramanujan was elected to be a member of the London Mathematical Society. In 1918 he also became a Fellow of the Royal Society, becoming the youngest person to achieve the feat. But due to ill health, he died in 1920 at the age of 32.

Notes:
Ten central agencies have been authorized by the Government of India (GoI) to intercept information from any computer. This notification was issued by the ‘Cyber and Information Security’ division of the Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) under the authority of Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba. The 10 agencies notified under the new order are the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Central Board of Direct Taxes (for Income Tax Department), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), National Investigation Agency (NIA), the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Directorate of Signal Intelligence (in service areas of J-K, North East and Assam) and Delhi Police commissioner. According to the new order, the agencies have been authorised “for the purpose of interception, monitoring and decryption of any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer resource under section 69 of the Information Technology (IT) Act of 2000”.