Current Affairs Quiz-December, 2019

Notes:
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to visit Brussels in 2020 for the India-EU Summit 2020. He was invited to participate in the 2020 EU-Summit by the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. India-EU partnership is based on shared values such as multilateralism, democracy, respect for rule of law, rules-based trade and international order. The summit is aimed at expanding strategic partnership with Europe.

Notes:
Punjab State government partnered with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to design a Public-Private pilot on shared, clean and electric mobility. The move aims to combat the growing problem of environmental pollution in the state. The state is preparing its own EV policy to support the adoption of e-vehicles. WEF chose Punjab, as it is well-positioned for shared EV transition. WEF has already housed an existing auto component manufacturing base, besides having skilled labour and being a power surplus.

Notes:
Jharkhand’s Mahuamilan railway station has become the latest among these to get the facility. Mahuamilan station becomes the country’s 5500th station to get free wifi facility. Free Wi-Fi service to passengers are being provided under RailWire. The Railways began the service of providing free WiFi at their stations from January 2016 from the Mumbai Central station.

Notes:
Indian Government will  introduce the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 in Parliament. The Bill proposes to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955. The Bill seeks to grant citizenship to undocumented non-Muslims (Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Parsi, Jain and Sikh) from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who came to India on or before December 31, 2014. Purpose of the Bill is to enable acquisition of Indian citizenship by persons who were forced to seek shelter in India due to persecution on grounds of religion. The Bill shall not apply to: Tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura as included in the sixth schedule of the Constitution.

Notes:
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has announced changes in its health insurance policy in order to provide benefits to employees involved in LGBT employees, a same-sex relationship. TCS became the first Tata Group companies to bring the change. The change in health insurance policy will benefit all bisexual, lesbian, gay, and transgender or LGBT employees in the company. The new health policy of the IT services major redefines spouse as a partner. The insurance policy will cover up to 50% cost of sex or gender reassignment surgery.

Notes:
Three youngsters, Alon Abramovich, Meitav Assulin and Shmuel Aviv Levi, from an Israeli school, will travel to India to launch a satellite, Duchifat 3. The three 17 to 18 years old are the students of Sha’ar HaNegev High school in Israel’s southern region. The satellite was designed and built by the students aboard PSLV C48 from ISRO’s Sriharikota launch site. The satellite is to be launched on 11 December.
Duchifat 3: Duchifat 3 is the third satellite made by the Israeli student.The satellite was jointly built by Herzliya Science Center and Sha’ar Hanegev High School students. The satellite was designed to serve children from across the country to observe the Earth. It is an imaging satellite that will be used for ecological research of Earth from space.

Notes:
National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), India’s anti-doping body has selected Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty as its brand ambassador. NADA hopes that his celebrity status would help its efforts to clean up sports in the country from the menace.

Notes:
South Asian Games 2019 concluded on 10 December,2019 in Nepal, with India finishing on top with a best-ever medal haul of 312 medals comprising of 174 gold, 93 silver and 45 bronze. Host Nepal remained second and Sri Lanka got third place in the regional multi-sporting. The year 2019 marks the 13th edition of South Asian Games.
India finished on top, continuing its undisputed domination in regional multi-sporting event by finishing on top for the 13th time-in-a-row. India has topped the medal tally of every South Asian Games since its establishment in 1984.

Notes:
To ensure the benefits of FASTag beyond tolling, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has launched a pilot project for using FASTags for parking purposes at Hyderabad Airport. Conceptualised as FASTag 2.0, the tag would cover parking payments, fuel payments, etc. After the success of project in Hyderabad, it will be launched at Delhi airport.

Notes:
In order to secure the CPEC sea route, China and Pakistan have signed a deal to build drones with maximum payload of 480 kg, with top speed of 370 km per hour and can fly up to 20 hours. The drones are called Loong II. These drones are similar to the MQ-9 Reaper drones developed by the US. Pakistan and China have agreed to build 48 drones in the Pakistan soil. The deal is to be implemented by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and Aviation Industry Corp of China. This deal is considered to be the biggest drone sale of China to any country.