Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2021

Notes:
Under Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra Yojna, senior citizens of Delhi can go on pilgrimages at the government’s expense.
Kartarpur Sahib and Velankanni Church in Tamil Nadu have been recently added to the Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra Yojna’. The programme could not be held in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic outbreak.

Notes:
Indian professional squash player Saurav Ghosal has become the first Indian player to claim the Malaysian open. At the final event, Saurav Ghosal clinched the title by defeating former world No.4 Miguel Rodriguez of Colombia.
On many occasions, the two players have played together and at one point were even trained by the same coach David Palmer.

Notes:
Al Raisi – the Inspector General of the United Arab Emirates’ Interior ministry has been elected as the President of Interpol, following three rounds of voting. He received 68.9 percent of votes cast by member countries.
The International Criminal Police Organization, commonly known as the Interpol, facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime control. It is headquartered in Lyon, France.

Notes:
The Union government has approved the strategic disinvestment of Central Electronics Ltd (CEL) after the competitive bidding process. CEL is a CPSE under the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of Science and Technology.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) empowered Alternative Mechanism (AM) has approved the highest price bid of Nandal Finance and Leasing for sale of 100% equity shareholding of GoI in CEL. The winning bid is over Rs 210 crores.

Notes:
Alipore Zoological Garden in Kolkata has introduced month-long adoption of animals to create public awareness about them. The Zoo also had year-long adoption process in practice.
As per the zoo officials, adoption fees have been lowered, and people are being encouraged to adopt lesser-popular birds and animals, besides popular ones such as deer, tigers and chimpanzees.

Notes:
The National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released the estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the second quarter (July-September) of 2021-22 (Q2 2021-22).
GDP at Constant Prices in Q2 2021-22 is estimated at ₹35.73 lakh crore, as against ₹32.97 lakh crore in Q2 2020-21, with a growth of 8.4 percent as compared to 7.4 percent contraction in Q2 2020-21.

Notes:
Nagaland’s iconic Hornbill Festival, called as the “festival of festivals”, will be held in its traditional format, starting on December 1. This year is the 22nd edition of the festival.
Last year, it was held virtually last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The 10-day cultural and tourism annually begins at the start of December and coincides with Nagaland’s statehood day.

Notes:
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is an intergovernmental organization and implements the Chemical Weapons Convention 1997. It is headquartered at The Hague, Netherlands.
Recently, “Prohibition of chemical weapons as tools for law enforcement” has received the approval of OPCW based on 85-10 voting.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has released a “National strategy on blockchain”, in which 44 potential areas have been identified for use of blockchain technology in India.
The Ministry has proposed setting up a National Blockchain Framework with 3 participants namely – user, operator and technology stack builder.

Notes:
World Soil Day is celebrated every year on December 5, to highlight people’s attention to the importance of soil and its sustainable management.
This year’s campaign is based on the theme of “Halt soil salinization, boost soil productivity”. It aims to raise awareness about the importance of maintaining healthy ecosystems and human well-being. The international observance was recommended by the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) in 2002.