Current Affairs Quiz-December, 2019

Notes:
NASA satellite orbiting the Moon has found India’s Chandrayaan-2 Vikram lander which crashed on the lunar surface in September. NASA released an image taken by its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) that showed the site of the spacecraft’s impact (September 6 in India and September 7 in the U.S.) and associated debris field, with parts scattered over almost two dozen locations spanning several kilometers.

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:
Bestselling author Ashwin Sanghi will come out with his next book, “The Vault of Vishnu”, on January 23, 2020, announced publishing house Westland. The book, which will be the sixth installment of the author’s famous mythological ‘Bharat series’, will be released at the upcoming Jaipur Literature festival (JLF). Setting a fictional timeline of mythological events, Sanghi said, the new book will also be a “combination of history, mythology, culture, philosophy, geology, and science”.

Notes:
International Day of Persons with Disabilities (December 3) is an international observance promoted by the United Nations since 1992. It has been observed with varying degrees of success around the planet. The observance of the Day aims to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities. It also seeks to increase awareness of gains to be derived from the integration of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life. It was originally called “International Day of Disabled Persons” until 2007.Each year the day focuses on a different issue. The theme for 2019 is “The Future is Accessible”

Notes:
The Punjab cabinet on December 2, 2019, approved the amendment of Punjab Village Common Land (Regulation) rules, 1964. It aims at creating land banks in rural areas to boost industrial development in the state.
The amendment has included Rule 12-B that provides special provision to transfer shamlat land or common land to the development of industrial projects. According to GoI, Shamlat land is the land that does not come under cultivation and habitation. It is the consolidated land holdings that are held by the state governments for common use.Under the amendment, the Gram Panchayat can transfer the shamlat land to the industries with prior approval from the state government. Land Banks are to be set up under Gram Panchayat to implement this amendment.

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:
Amazon.com Inc is extending its cloud to 5G networks in partnership with Verizon Communications Inc, so developers can run latency-sensitive programs on mobile and connected devices. The program, called AWS Wavelength, is one of several new ways that Amazon Web Services is pushing its cloud into new territory. At the company’s annual re:Invent conference in Las Vegas, the world’s top cloud provider also announced new infrastructure called Local Zones, debuting in Los Angeles, that will help nearby users run speed-intensive applications like gaming.

Notes:
Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment conferred Uttar Pradesh with the National Award of Excellence for doing a commendable job in the field of rehabilitation of persons with disabilities (Divyangjan). Uttar Pradesh also received the award for the best state in the implementation of Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan. The department’s website also received the award as the best portal for being disabled-friendly while Varanasi has been awarded for offering the best rehabilitation services among the districts.

Notes:
Aberdeen in Andaman and Nicobar Islands is the best police station in India, followed by Balasinor in Gujarat and Ajk Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh. The government has prepared a list of best performing police stations in the country. These rankings were based on a rage of parameters such as addressing the number of offences related to property disputes, crime against women and crime against weaker sections at a police station.

Notes:
The Siu-Ka-Pha Award was presented to noted educationist, Botanist and folklore researcher Dr. Padmeswar Gogoi. It was presented at a programme held at Siu-Ka-Pha Samannay Kshetra in Golaghat. The award recognized his effort and contribution in the field of botany and science.
The inaugural edition of the award carried a citation, a memento, a cheleng chador and Rs.10,000. It was presented by Golaghat Deputy Commissioner Dhiren Hazarika. Gogoi donated the cash amount that was presented to him to the organizing committee to spend on activities that are done in order to promote the ideals of Chaolung Siu-Ka-Pha.