Current Affairs Quiz-December, 2019

Notes:
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has extended a 451 million loan to strengthen power connectivity between the southern and northern parts of the Chennai–Kanyakumari Industrial Corridor (CKIC). CKIC is part of the East Coast Economic Corridor (ECEC) in Tamil Nadu. Government of India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a 451 million loan for strengthening power connectivity between northern and southern parts of Chennai–Kanyakumari Industrial Corridor (CKIC) which is part of East Coast Economic Corridor (ECEC). ECEC is India’s first coastal economic corridor.
It will help establish extra-high-voltage transmission link between Coimbatore and Virudhunagar. It will meet increased power demand in CKIC by transfering additional generation capacity of 9,000 megawatt (MW), including 6,000 MW from renewable by 2025. This will help reliably evacuate power from these new power plants in southern CKIC.

Notes:
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) transferred its indigenous technology to produce space-grade lithium-ion cells (Li-ion cells) to Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) as per the TTA signed in March 2018. BHEL is setting up the Li-Ion production facility near Bangalore in Karnataka. The announcement was given by the Union Minister of Atomic Energy and Space Dr. Jitendra Singh.
BHEL has procured and commission the various equipments, both indigenous and imported, to establish the facility. After the agreement, ISRO has provided all technical documentation that will be needed to establish the production plant and hands-on training in various production activities for BHEL staff at ISRO’s facilities.

Notes:
In Japan, Yasuhiro Nakasone (101) has passed away at Tokyo on 29th November 2019. He was one of the longest-reigning Prime Ministers and known for his friendship with Ronald Reagan. He also broke an unwritten rule on limiting the annual defence budget to 1% of Gross National Product (GNP). In 1983, he became the first Japanese Premier to officially visit South Korea & mended fences with a country that Japan had brutally colonized from 1910 to 1945.

Notes:
In shooting, Angad Vir Singh Bajwa unofficially hit a world record score in the men’s skeet final at the 63rd National Shooting Championships for Shotgun events in New Delhi on 29th November 2019. He defeated his senior and fellow Tokyo 2020 quota winner Mairaj Ahmad Khan of Uttar Pradesh. He also equalled a record he jointly holds with skeet legend Vincent Hancock and two others.

Notes:
Steve Smith has become the fastest man to score 7,000 Test runs in the ongoing second Test against Pakistan. He broke English great Wally Hammond’s record that had stood since 1946. Smith also passed Bradman’s 6,996 Test runs.  It took Smith 70 Tests to do so, while Bradman needed only 52.

Notes:
A court in Suriname on November 29,2019 convicted President Desi Bouterse of murder for the execution of 15 opponents in 1982 following a coup to seize power, sentencing the man who has dominated the former Dutch colony’s recent history to 20 years in prison. Opposition parties called for Bouterse, currently in China on an official visit, to step down. The military court that found him guilty has not yet ordered his arrest.

Notes:
India will set up 12 hi-tech parks in Bangladesh at a cost of $193 million.Speaking at a business meeting in Rangpur organised by the local Chamber of Commerce and Industry, High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das said that these hi-tech parks will provide training to 30,000 youth of Bangladesh as skilled IT professionals. Responding to the issue of the trade imbalance between the two countries, Riva Ganguly Das said that diversification of the product basket of Bangladesh will help reduce the gap by increasing exports to India.

Notes:
Maharashtra’s Savitribai Phule Pune University (STPU) and Qatar’s Milestone International Education signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to enable the University to set up its campus in Doha. The aim of the agreement is to provide opportunities in higher education to around 8 million Indian diasporas based in Qatar.

Notes:
Centre launched the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 2.0 across the country. The government’s flagship scheme is aimed at immunizing children under the age of 2 years and pregnant women against eight vaccine preventable diseases. The IMI covers vaccines for diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, measles, meningitis and Hepatitis B. Vaccines for Japanese encephalitis and hemophilus influenzal are also being provided in selected areas. The IMI 2.0 aims to achieve targets of full immunization coverage in 272 districts spread over 27 States. The IMI 2.0 will be carried out between December 2019 and March 2020.

Notes:
The Lok Sabha on December 2, 2019 passed a Bill to replace an Ordinance promulgated in September for effecting reduction of corporate tax rates. Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019, will amend the Income Tax Act 1961 and the Finance (No 2) Act 2019.