Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2021

Notes:
The Government of India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a $150 million loan to provide access to resilient and sustainable housing for the urban poor in the state of Tamil Nadu.
The Indian government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed a $125 million loan pact to improve access to safe and affordable drinking water and city-wide inclusive sanitation services in Dehradun and Nainital cities of Uttarakhand.

Notes:
On December 7, NASA launched its new Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD). It is the agency’s first-ever laser communications system from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The LCRD will help the NASA to test optical communication in space. At present, most NASA spacecraft use radio frequency communications to send data. LCRD has two optical terminals – one to receive data from a user spacecraft, and the other to transmit data to ground stations.

Notes:
The Sikkim Assembly passed Sikkim (Re-Organisation of Districts) Bill, 2021 bill, for the creation of two more districts named Pakyang and Soreng.
Sikkim will have six districts after Governor Ganga Prasad gives his assent to the bill. The House also passed an amendment bill to rename Sikkim State University after Mt Kanchenjunga, the guardian deity of the people.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das announced that the Monetary Policy Committee had opted to keep the rates unchanged.
With this Repo and reverse repo rates currently stand at 4 per cent and 3.35 per cent, respectively. RBI also maintained its stance as “accommodative”. This is the ninth policy meeting where committee has maintained the key lending rate, in a row. Projection for real GDP growth is retained at 9.5% and CPI inflation at 5.3% in FY22.

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.

Notes:
The funding and implementation of the Ken-Betwa inter-linking of rivers project were approved by the Union Cabinet with a total cost of Rs 44,605 crore. It is the first project under the National Perspective Plan for interlinking of rivers.
It seeks to transfer water from the Ken river to the Betwa river, both tributaries of the Yamuna.  A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) called Ken-Betwa Link Project Authority (KBLPA) will be set up.

Notes:
Assamese poet Nilmani Phookan Jr has won the 56th Jnanpith Award.  He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1990 and received the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship in 2002.
Konkani novelist Damodar Mauzo has won the 57th Jnanpith Award. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983 for his novel Karmelin. He worked towards the inclusion of Konkani as a language in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution of India, in a movement called Konkani Porjecho Avaz.

Notes:
Asian Development Bank has approved a Rs 2,644.85 crore (USD 350 million) loan for India to help improve its urban services.
The loan supports the policies set up by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to provide universal coverage of piped water supply and improved sanitation. This is part of the recently launched Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0

Notes:
A US-based rights group ChinaAid has awarded journalist Zhang Zhan with the Lin Zhao Freedom Award. She was jailed by Chinese authorities for reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic.
The journalist was conferred with the award for her work in promoting the Chinese civil society and advancing the rule of law. Lawyer-turned-journalist Zhang travelled to Wuhan and  investigated the area.

Notes:
On National Energy Conservation Day, the Power Ministry will distribute LED bulbs at a subsidised rate at 10 Rupees in over 2,500 villages in five states – Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka.
This will be done under the expansion of flagship Gram UJALA programme. The programme has been launched in March 2021 and achieved a distribution mark of more than 33 lakh LED bulbs in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.