Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2018

Notes:
The Indian Railways has won 17 awards at the National Energy Conservation Awards (NECA) 2018. This is the highest number of awards bagged by a single organisation. These awards are given by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) of the Ministry of Power to various institutions for adopting measures for reducing energy consumption and cost. Under ‘transport’ category, Indian Railways obtained 10 awards for the subsector railway station. In it, Vidisha railway station in Madhya Pradesh won the first prize. Under ‘building’ category, Indian Railways got three awards for subsector Railway hospitals. Here, Railway hospitals of Izzatnagar division won the first prize. Under ‘institution’ category, Indian Railways bagged four awards for subsector state PWD, CPWD and PHED. Passenger reservation system complex building of Secunderabad division won the first prize.

Notes:
Real Madrid, a professional football club based in Madrid, has won the 15th edition of FIFA Club World Cup 2018 in United Arab Emirates (UAE) on December 22. They successfully defended their title (their third consecutive) after defeating Al-Ain 4–1 in the final. With the win, they broke the tie with Barcelona to become the outright record winners of the competition.

Notes:
The Central government has decided to rename three popular islands of Andaman and Nicobar to mark the 75th anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s historic visit to the islands. The names of Ross Island, Neil Island and Havelock Island will be changed to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Island, Shaheed Dweep and Swaraj Dweep, respectively. On 30th December 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Port Blair to make the announcement of name change. He will also release a commemorative stamp and a coin on the occasion. On 30th December 1943, Bose had hoisted the national flag at the Gymkhana Ground (now Netaji Stadium) in Port Blair and announced that the islands were the first Indian Territory to be freed from British rule. This was done after the Japanese captured the islands during the time of World War II. At that time, Bose reportedly suggested renaming Andaman and Nicobar islands as Shaheed and Swaraj Dweep.

Notes:
In Assam, the third Dwijing Festival 2018 has started on the bank of Aye river at Chirang district on December 27. Around 15 lakh tourists are expected to participate in the 12 day long festival. Adventure sports, food mart, cultural events, traditional games are being organized in the fest. Participants from Thailand, Bhutan and Bangladesh are also taken part in the festival. The festival provides livelihood opportunities for the local people and focuses on business activities for better economic generation through rural tourism.

Notes:
The Madhya Pradesh government has declared the Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS) as National Park in compliance with the last condition imposed by a Supreme Court-appointed committee for the much awaited ‘translocation of Asiatic lions from Gir in Gujarat’. The move is expected to pave way for translocation of lions from Gir National Park (GNP) in Gujarat to Kuno. The Palpur-Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Sheopur district of Gwalior division & has been chosen as a second home for over 500 Asiatic lions. It is spread over 750 sq km area.

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:
Russia has successfully tested a new hypersonic nuclear weapon delivery system , named “Avangard”, from the Dombarovskiy missile base in the southern Ural Mountains. It successfully hit a practice target on the Kura shooting range on Kamchatka, 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) away. The Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle flies 27 times faster than the speed of sound, which makes it impossible to intercept. It has been claimed the Avangard system is designed using new composite materials to withstand temperatures of up to 2000 degrees Celsius that come from a flight through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds. As per officials, the Avangard could be fitted to the Soviet-made UR-100UTTKh intercontinental ballistic missile, which is code-named SS-19 Stiletto by NATO. Russia claims its new weapons will be more nimble and can change direction making them far harder to track and intercept.

Notes:
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) was awarded Best Capital City in the Solid Waste Management in the Swachh Survekshan 2018 rankings. The Swachh Survekshan was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) under Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban). According to a press release, the Swachh Survekashan survey ranks cities on various parameters including sanitation, provision of basic amenities etc.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has brought out a booklet on cyber safety for school children to inform them about different aspects of cyber safety. The booklet, titled ‘A Handbook for Students on cyber Safety’, also deals with the problems of cyber bullying, cyber grooming and email fraud. It advises teenagers against accepting friend requests from unknown people on social media. The booklet explains various kinds of cyber crimes like identity theft, job fraud, email spoofing and how children can overcome them. The information provided in the handbook is intended to create awareness among citizens especially students about various cyber threats that can impact them and ways to safeguard themselves against cyber crimes. The booklet also provides details about various safeguards that can be adopted by children to protect themselves from cyber grooming.

Notes:
Mrinal Sen (95), the legendary filmmaker, has passed away in Kolkata, West Bengal on December 30, 2018. Along with his contemporaries Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak, he was often considered to be one of the greatest ambassadors of Bengali parallel cinema on the global stage with films like Ek Din Achanak, Padatik, Mrigaya, Akaler Sandhane, Chorus, Kharij, Khandahar, Bhuwan Shome, Akash Kusum and Calcutta 71. He made his directorial debut with Raat Bhore in 1955 and is known for making films that focussed on socio-politial issues. A recipient of 12 international film awards, Mrinal Sen was also a member of the Indian People’s Theatre Association. Sen was an ardent follower of Marxist philosophy.