Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2018

Notes:
Industry body Nasscom has collaborated with the IIT-Madras for its FutureSkills Platform that is targeted at re-skilling/upskilling 4 million people from the IT-ITeS industry, students entering the workforce and employees of other industries/government on digital skills. The partnership will be directly with the Sector Skills Council (SSC), which is the education and skill development initiative of Nasscom. The SSC and IIT Madras will work towards building a skills academy and establish a program with extensive courses and training programmes to facilitate skill building in the institution.

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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.

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The Haryana Government has launched ‘Shiksha Setu’ app to ensure better connectivity with college students. It will provide students information on attendance, fee, online admission and scholarships of all government colleges of the state. The app will provide instant updates of important notices, circulars and other programmes to students and teachers, while allowing the former to pay their fee online. During admissions, the students would be able to check the status of seats or course in every college in the state and will also get access to information such as details of scholarships and eligibility conditions among others. Apart from this, the students will also get instant information on assignments and notifications.

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India has been ranked 108th among 149 countries at the World Economic Forum (WEF) gender gap index for year 2018. As per report titled ‘Measuring the Global Gender Gap’, India ranked lower on all segments – economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival ranking, and political empowerment.“It needs to make improvements across the board, from women’s participation to getting more women into senior and professional roles. The global list was topped by Iceland having closed more than 85.8% of its overall gender gap. Iceland holds the top spot in the index for the 10th consecutive year. Nordic countries Norway (2nd, 83.5%), Sweden (3rd, 82.2%), and Finland (4th, 82.1%) dominated the top slots. The Gender gap was measured across four key pillars — economic opportunity, political empowerment, educational attainment, and health and survival.

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The UN General Assembly (UNGA) has officially adopted the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. The document is the first-ever negotiated global framework on a common approach to international migration in all its dimensions. It is meant to address issues that concern the world’s 258 million people on the move and countries of origin, transit and destination. The non-binding agreement was adopted by the General Assembly with 152 votes in favour in Marrakesh, Morocco on 10th December 2018. India voted in favour of the resolution while, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, Poland, and US voted against it. The document reaffirms the foundational principles of global community, including national sovereignty and universal human rights. Though non-legally binding, the Compact is the outcome of a long negotiation process and provides a strong platform for cooperation on migration, drawing on best practices and international law.

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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.

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Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal , has been conferred the Skoch Chief Minister of the Year Award for 2018 for her contribution in the overall development of the state and emerging as the best chief minister in the country. Banerjee has been conferred with the prestigious award on the basis of the state’s performance in the field of governance, culture, finance, urban and rural development. In 2018, The state has bagged 31 Skoch Awards for its performance across different fields besides implementing unique projects. As per Skoch, West Bengal has also won the top position in terms of the number of man-days created and the amount spent in paying people for their work in the 100 days’ work scheme. Besides Banerjee, the Skoch Group has also awarded Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu with the ‘SKOCH Sprinter of the Year’, and Commerce and Industry and civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu as the ‘Steady Reformer’.

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Indian woman Vedangi Kulkarni has become the fastest Asian to cycle the globe. Hailing from a suburb of Pune, Vedangi cycled into Kolkata in the wee hours on 23rd December 2018, completing the 29,000 kilometers’ distance required to qualify as bicycling across the globe. She spent 159 days peddling up to 300km a day in 14 countries. Starting off from Perth in July 2018, she will now be flying back to the Australian city to complete the record by cycling a 15km distance to reach the same place from where she started. Vedangi is a student of the University of Bournemouth in the United Kingdom pursuing a degree in sports management. Earlier, British adventurer Jenny Graham (38) is the fastest woman to have cycled the globe in 124 days in 2018.

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Thailand has become the first nation in Southeast Asia to legalize medical use of marijuana, as well as the kratom, a locally grown plant traditionally used as a stimulant and painkiller. The changes, which become law when published in the Royal Gazette, legalize the production, import, export, possession and use of marijuana and kratom products for medical purposes. But, recreational use of the drugs remains illegal and subject to prison terms and fines commensurate with the quantities involved. Marijuana is a psychoactive drug from the Cannabis plant intended for medical or recreational use. Earlier, in October 2018, Canada officially becomes the 2nd Country in the world to legalize the recreational use of marijuana nationwide after Uruguay.

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Dr. Hamidi Kashmiri, the tallest literary figure in the world of Urdu language, literature and literary criticism, has passed away in Srinagar, J&K on December 27, 2018. He was a prolific creative writer, an acclaimed critic and propounder of “Iktishaafi Tanqueed”. He has also been the Vice Chancellor of University of Kashmir for years during the most difficult times of militant unrest. His some notable works include Iqtishafi Tanqeed Ki Sheryat, Ainame Ibraaq, Mahasir Tanqeed, Riyasati Jammu Aur Kashmir Urdu Adab, Jadeed Kashir Shayeri , etc. Kashmiri is a recipient of the Ghalib Award and Sahitya Akademi Award (2005). The Government of India honored him in 2010, with the third highest civilian award of Padma Shri.