Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2021

Notes:
The Ministry of Rural Development has signed an MoU with Flipkart to help empower local businesses and self-help groups (SHGs) led by women.
The MoU seeks to bring the small business units and SHGs into the e-commerce fold. The partnership is aligned with Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihood Mission- DAY-NRLM. The MoU will enable rural women to sell their products to more than 10 crore Flipkart’s customers.

Notes:
The Vice President recently released a book titled, ‘Public Service Ethics’- A Quest for Naitik Bharat’ written by Prabhat Kumar, former Governor of Jharkhand and former Cabinet Secretary to the Government of India.
The Vice President also called for a broad-based social movement for a ‘Naitik Bharat’ or ‘Ethical India’.

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:
36-year old Top British Racing Driver Lewis Hamilton won the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Tournament.
He passed Max Verstappen with six laps remaining in the race on the street circuit on the 30-kilometer coastal resort area in Jeddah. With this victory, Hamilton also levelled points with Red Bull rival Max Verstappen.

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 Uttar Pradesh government has given its approval to implement Atma Nirbhar Krishak Integrated Development Scheme in the state from 2021-22.
Under the scheme 1475 farmer producer organisations will be formed in the next three years in each block of the state. It will also help to achieve the target of utilising the budget of 1000 crores allotted by the centre under Agriculture infrastructure fund.

Notes:
The United States has recently warned Russia not to invade Ukraine and urged both countries to return to the agreements designed to end a separatist war by Russian-speakers in eastern Ukraine.
In 2014, Ukraine and the Russian-backed separatists agreed a 12-point ceasefire deal in the capital of Belarus- Minsk. Representatives of Russia, Ukraine, OSCE and the leaders of two pro-Russian separatist regions signed a 13-point agreement in 2015 in Minsk. These are called Minsk agreements.

Notes:
The Ministry of Coal has set up ‘Mission Coking Coal’ to develop a road map for increasing production and utilization of domestic coking coal.
The recently formed Inter-Ministerial Committee has submitted it recommendations to augment coking coal production in India. The Committee headed by the Additional Secretary, Ministry of Coal gave 13 recommendations.

Notes:
Forbes, an American business magazine releases the rankings of 100 most powerful women of the world ever year.
This year, Jeff Bezos’ former wife Mackenzie Scott earned the topmost spot in this year’s list. US Vice-President Kamla Harris is ranked second, and European Central Bank Head Christine Lagarde is at the third position. India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is ranked at 37th position.

Notes:
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Charter Day is observed every year on 8th December.
On this day in 1985, SAARC Charter was adopted in Dhaka, during the first summit of the group. This year also marks the 37th Anniversary of the regional group. SAARC has organised 18 summits since 1985.