Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2021

Notes:
United Nations General Assembly declared December 4 as International Day of Banks and it was celebrated for the first time in 2020.
The day was celebrated to recognise the importance of multilateral and international development banks in financing sustainable developments. Also recognises the vital role of banking systems in in contributing to the improvement of standard of living.

Notes:
The state of Tamil Nadu was awarded the best State for promoting empowerment of persons with disabilities (PwD), by the Government of India.
The National Awards for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities is awarded every year on 3rd December (International day for the disabled persons) by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

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.

Notes:
The Kazhuveli wetland located near Villupuram in Tamil Nadu has been recently declared the 16th bird sanctuary by the Environment, Climate Change and Forest Department.
The 5,151.60 hectares of land will henceforth be called the ‘Kazhuveli Birds Sanctuary’. The sanctuary lies adjacent to the Bay of Bengal along the eastern coast.

Notes:
NASA astronomers have recently developed a next-generation impact monitoring algorithm called Sentry-II.
It aims to evaluate near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) impact probabilities. The new system improves the capabilities of NASA JPL’s ‘Center for Near Earth Object Studies’ to assess the impact risk of asteroids that can come close to our planet.

Notes:
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a United Nations body, is the nodal agency to manage and ensure cooperation among various air carriers. It is headquartered at Canada.
International Civil Aviation Day is observed on December 7 to raise awareness about the role aviation plays in the social and economic development.  ICAO Council establishes a theme for International Civil Aviation Day every five years. The theme till 2023 will be: “Advancing Innovation for Global Aviation Development”.

Notes:
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is implementing an Umbrella scheme namely Atal Vayo Abhyudaya Yojana (AVYAY).
The scheme aims for welfare of Senior Citizens across the country. This has several components, namely Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana (RVY), SACRED, IPSrC, SAPSrC among others.

Notes:
Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora has been invited to join the board of advisers at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.
The institute is also known as International IDEA which has a mission to support sustainable democracy. Established in 1995, International IDEA is an intergovernmental organisation based in Stockholm, Sweden. International IDEA currently has 34 member countries from all continents.

Notes:
Indian Navy’s Sail Training Ship INS Sudarshini visited Port Sultan Qaboos, Oman for a three-day Operational Turn Round (OTR).
The ship is part of the 1st Training Squadron based at Kochi which trains sea trainees of the Indian Navy. INS Sudarshini is an indigenously built Sail Training Ship (STS) built by Goa Shipyard Limited and based at Kochi, Kerala.

Notes:
Japanese Entrepreneur and Fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa and producer Yozo Hirano, blasted off for the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft along with Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin.
They are the first self-paying space tourists to visit the space station since 2009. Maezawa and Hirano are scheduled to spend 12 days in space.