Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2018

Notes:
On December 23, Bala Rafique Shaikh clinched the 62nd Maharashtra Kesari 2018 title by defeating Abhijeet Katke of Pune in the wrestling duel held at Azad ground, Jalna, Maharashtra. He defeated his opponent 11-3 in the one-sided match. Shaikh was honoured with a silver mace and cash prize of Rs 1 lakh. Maharashtra Kesari is an Indian-style prestigious wrestling championship, established in 1961. ‘Kesari’ is a Sanskrit word for ‘Lion’.

Notes:
The Maharashtra government has launched Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee International Schools in Mumbai on the occasion of 94th birth anniversary of the late Prime Minister. The school is affiliated to the Maharashtra International Education Board (MIEB) with an aim to achieve higher education standards in rural areas.

Notes:
Noted sitar player Manju Mehta has been conferred with the ‘Tansen Samman’ for 2018 by the Madhya Pradesh government for her contribution in the field of music. Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar presented the award to Mehta at the inaugural ceremony of the 2018 Tansen Music Festival on December 25. She was given a cash award of Rs 2 lakh and a memento. Mehta is a recipient of several honours & learnt music from legendary sitar maestro late Pandit Ravi Shankar. Meanwhile, the ‘Raja Mansingh Tomar Honour’ was given to the Sankat Mochan Pratishthan in Varanasi for 2017 and the Natrang Pratishthan of New Delhi for 2018. The award is given to institutions for nurturing good music. The Tansen Music Festival is organised every year by the MP culture department in the memory of Tansen, one of the greatest artists in Indian history. It is being held in Gwalior since the past 94 years.

Notes:
Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki has officially declared that Palestine would apply for full state membership at the United Nations in January 2019. To secure full state membership, the Palestinians need support from at least nine out of the UNSC’s 15 member states. Beside this, Mr Al-Malki would also demand the UNSC implementation of Resolution 2334 and ask the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open an official inquiry into Israeli settlement construction. According to UNSC Resolution 2334, the UN Secretary General should present the Security Council with a progress report every three months on Israeli settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. Palestine has been recognized by the UN as a non-member observer state since 2012.

Notes:
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.

Notes:
The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, has unanimously approved long-awaited, controversial law to allow exports of medical marijuana, allowing Israel to tap the lucrative global market. Though, the bill still needs approval from the cabinet and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But, this step is seen as a formality. With this approval, Israel will become the third country, after the Netherlands and Canada, to do so. Marijuana (scientific name: Cannabis sativa) is the most commonly used illegal substance worldwide. The main psychoactive part of cannabis is THC (Tetra Hydro Cannabinol). Of the 483 known compounds in the cannabis plant, THC affects the brain the most. Cannabis can be used by smoking, vaporizing, within food, or as an extract. The short-term side effects of marijuana include a decrease in short-term memory, dry mouth, impaired motor skills, red eyes, and feelings of paranoia or anxiety. Long-term side effects may include addiction, decreased mental ability in those who started as teenagers, and behavioral problems in children whose mothers used cannabis during pregnancy.

Notes:
Dronacharya awardee C A Kuttappa has taken over as India’s chief boxing coach at the ongoing national camp. Kuttappa is credited with shaping some of the country’s most successful boxers such as Vijender Singh, M Suranjoy Singh and Shiva Thapa, among others. He took over from veteran coach SR Singh at the beginning of the camp which started December 10. Singh has since retired. The current set of boxers in the camp, barring the national champions, will be giving trials in the second week of January 2019, which will lead to a pruning and form the basis of selection for the India Open and the prestigious Strandja Memorial in Bulgaria.

Notes:
Aadi Sai Vijaykaran, a 13-year-old from Chennai, has created history by winning the Junior Debate Championship at the World Scholar’s Cup held at Yale University, the USA from November 16-21. He has been adjudged the world’s best School debater at a global contest. This is the first time an individual from India has won the coveted title. The theme for the cup was ‘An Entangled World: diplomacy, human relationships, the science of memory, and literature, art’. Vijaykaran is a trained Carnatic musician, has a black belt in Karate, plays chess and football.

Notes:
The scientists at Cambridge University have built a Virtual Reality (VR) 3D model of cancer that will help increase the understanding of cancer as well as in the search for new treatment. Researchers from the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Researchers started with a one millimetre cubed piece of breast cancer tissue biopsy, containing around 100,000 cells. They cut wafer thin slices, scanned and then stained them with markers to show their molecular make-up and DNA characteristics. The tumour was then rebuilt using virtual reality (VR), which allows multiple users from anywhere, in the world to examine the tumour. Although the human tissue sample was about the size of a pinhead, using the VR headsets, it could be magnified to appear several metres across. To explore the tumour in more detail, the VR system allows one to ‘fly through’ the cells.

Notes:
On December 28, the unique Chapparam (Chariot) festival was celebrated with traditional rituals and festivities in the famous Madurai Meenakshi temple, in Tamil Nadu. The fest symbolizes the importance of preserving all kinds of food and fodder. The festival is also an auspicious occasion when the God and Goddess measure out food for all living beings. In it, both Goddess Meenakshi and her spouse Lord Sundareswarar circumambulate the four main streets around the temple. Cooked rice, which is distributed among devotees, are taken home and preserved because it signifies prosperity for the whole year. Another specialty of the festival is that the chariot of Goddess Meenakshi is pulled by lady devotees alone.