Current Affairs Quiz-December, 2019

Notes:
Researchers from the National Astronomical Observatory of China have discovered a black hole in the Milky Way. The black hole is so huge that it challenged the existing models of the evolution of stars. The black hole was discovered by an international team of scientists using China’s sophisticated Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) telescope. The black hole, LB-1, is located 15,000 light-years away from Earth.

Notes:
Veteran Tamil actor and theatre artist Bala Singh passed away at the age of 67 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu due to illness. Bala, an alumnus of National School of Drama (NSD) started his career as a theatre artiste. He rose to fame in actor Nasser’s Avatharam(1995), where he played the role of a villain. It was also his debut film.

Notes:
Indian archers Deepika Kumari and Ankita Bhakat won the gold and silver medals respectively in the women’s individual recurve event of the 21st Asian Championships in Bangkok on November 28. Deepika defeated Ankita 6-0 in the one-sided final. The duo had earlier secured an individual Olympic quota for the country by storming into the semifinals of the event. Earlier in the last-four stage, Ankita got the better of Bhutan’s Karma, Deepika defeated Nguyet Do Thi Anh of Vietnam.

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 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:
The seventh Indo-Sri Lanka joint military exercise Mitra Shakti was held on December 1, 2019 at Aundh military station. The main objective of the exercise is to build and promote positive relations between the countries. The exercise was scheduled to be conducted at the Foreign Training Node in Pune between December 1 and December 14, 2019.

Notes:
The government on December 1,2019 appointed Soma Roy Burman, a 1986-batch Indian Civil Accounts Service Officer, as the new Controller General of Accounts (CGA). Ms. Burman is the 24th CGA and is the seventh woman to hold this position. During her 33-year long career, she has held cadre positions at different levels in ministries such as Home Affairs, Information & Broadcasting, Industry, Finance, Human Resource Development and Shipping, Road Transport & Highways.

Notes:
King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden are on a five-day visit to India aimed at strengthening bilateral ties. The Swedish royal couple, who arrived in India on December 2,2019 were accorded a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Apart from Delhi, the royal couple is scheduled to visit Mumbai and Uttarakhand. The ties between India and Sweden have been on an upward trajectory in the last few years. The King is leading a high-level business delegation from his country. The bilateral trade volume was USD 3.37 billion in 2018.

Notes:
India and Sweden has joined hands to set up a healthcare innovation centre to promote research, broadly in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and help scale-up Indian start-ups in the sector. Later, AIIMS, Delhi; AIIMS, Jodhpur, and Swedish Trade Commissioner’s Office in New Delhi signed a Memorandum of Intent (MoI) to cement cooperation, to set up a healthcare innovation centre. The signing of MoI marks 10 years of India-Sweden health cooperation.

Notes:
“Bharatiya Poshan Anthem” was launched on December 3, 2019 which aims at taking the message of making India malnutrition free to all corners of the country. The anthem has been penned by noted lyricist Prasoon Joshi and sung by Shankar Mahadevan. Poshan Abhiyan was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2018 with an objective to make India malnutrition free by 2022.