Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2021

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.

Notes:
West Bengal government has launched a bridge course of 100 days for the students named ‘Setu Pathakram’
The course to be introduced in the new academic session starting January, will be made available for students of all classes. It is being introduced to help the students understand the subjects to fill the gaps that may have raised during online classes.

Notes:
Parliament recently passed the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (Amendment) Bill.
It aims to accord the status of ‘institute of national importance’ to six more institutes of pharmaceutical education and research situated in Ahmedabad, Hajipur, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Guwahati and Raebareli. It also aims to set up an advisory council for them.

Notes:
Catherine Russell, an assistant to US President Joe Biden, has been appointed as the next head of the UN children’s agency UNICEF.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced  that Russell will succeed Henrietta Fore, who resigned in July. Russell heads the White House Office of Presidential Personnel and had served as the ambassador-at-large for global women issues.

Notes:
December 11 is celebrated as International Mountain Day every year, as designated by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
International Mountain Day creates awareness about the importance of mountains to life. This year’s theme for International Mountain Day is Sustainable Mountain Tourism. According to the UN, mountain tourism attracts about 15-20 per cent of global tourism.

Notes:
The Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor project in Varanasi connects the famous Kashi Vishwanath temple and the ghats along the river Ganga.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first phase of the project, which has been built at a cost of ₹ 339 crore. The project aims to provide easy movement of pilgrims and devotees between the ghats and the temple.

Notes:
“Q-Commerce” stands for “Quick commerce”, which essentially involves delivering customer orders faster than it does currently, by setting up micro-warehouses located closer to the point of delivery.
Online grocer Grofers has rebranded itself “Blinkit”, with a focus on “quick commerce”. Grofers decided to change its business model from the conventional grocer model to the quick-commerce model.

Notes:
Malini Parthasarathy, the chairperson of The Hindu Group Publishing, is among four veteran journalists who are named by US-based Columbia Journalism School as the 2022 alumni award winners.
The other winners include Eric Marcus, founder and host of “Making Gay History” podcast, Stuart Schear, American Jewish World Service, and Thomas Maier, investigative journalist. Wendy Lu (HuffPost) and Mukhtar Ibrahim (Sahan Journal), jointly bagged the First Decade Award.

Notes:
The world’s largest natural corundum blue sapphire- named the “Queen of Asia”, was found from a gem pit in Ratnapura, Sri Lanka.
Ratnapura, also known as gem city, is situated around 85 km away from capital Colombo. The rare gem weighs around 310 kg. The National Gem and Jewellery Authority of Sri Lanka certified the gem stone and said that more tests are to be carried out on the gem stone.