Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2021

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:
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 first ‘2+2’ ministerial dialogue scheduled to take place in Delhi. It will be held at the level of the foreign and defence ministers, will cover “political and defence issues of mutual interest”.
Until now, India held 2+2 format of meetings with member nations of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) — the US, Japan and Australia. Earlier, the 21st India Russia Annual Summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin was held at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on December 6, 2021.

Notes:
Yidan Prize is regarded as the world’s highest education accolade. Rukmini Banerji, CEO of Pratham Education Foundation, has been awarded the 2021 Yidan Prize for Education Development.
The award has been announced for her work in improving learning outcomes. One of the team’s pioneering works is the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) assessment that revealed literacy and numeracy gaps among children who have spent many years at school.

Notes:
British Airways will become the first airline to use sustainable aviation fuel produced on a commercial scale in the UK after signing the agreement with Phillips 66 Limited.
Sustainable aviation fuel-SAF is a lower carbon-intensity fuel that can be produced from renewable feed-stocks such as waste vegetable oils, fats and greases. It will be supplied to British Airways to power many of its flights from early 2022.

Notes:
The ‘Armed Forces Flag Day’ is observed every year on December 7. The day is meant to honour martyrs, and the brave soldiers who serve this country.
It is also known as India’s Flag Day and is dedicated to raising funds from Indian citizens for the welfare of the Indian Army. India has been celebrating this day every year since August 1949.

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:
World Malaria Report 2021 has been released by the World Health Organization (WHO). As per the report, global efforts to tackle malaria suffered due to COVID-19 in 2020.
There were estimated 627,000 malaria deaths in 2020, which is an increase of 12 per cent over 2019. The report also warns that if expeditious action is not taken, the world is in the danger of seeing an immediate resurgence of the disease, especially in Africa.

Notes:
A new data has been released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). As per the report, sales of arms and military services by the 100 largest companies totalled $531 billion in 202, which is an increase of 1.3 per cent compared with the previous year.
The United States hosted the highest number of companies ranked in the Top 100. It is followed by China. Even though the global growth contracted, the arms sales increased across the world.