Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2021

Notes:
The Indian Army is organising a multi-nation disaster management exercise been called PANEX 21. The exercise will involve BIMSTEC countries namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and India.
The Exercise PANEX 21 is planned to be conducted at Pune from December 20-22, with a special focus on relief in the background of Covid-19 pandemic.

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:
A team of ornithologists from Brazil and Finland has discovered a cryptic new species of flatbill flycatcher.
The new species has been named the cryptic flatbill (Rhynchocyclus cryptus) after its morphological cryptic nature. Flatbill flycatchers are members of the genus ‘Rhynchocyclus’ in the New World family ‘Tyrannidae’. All birds are large-headed, and flat-billed; with whitish eye rings.

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:
Global Methane Initiative (GMI) is a voluntary Government and an informal international partnership having members from 45 countries including the US and Canada. It was created in 2004 and India is one of the members since its inception
A Steering Leadership meeting of Global Methane Initiative (GMI) has been held virtually in which India’s representative from the Ministry of Coal was the Vice Chairman. The Chairperson of the Steering Leadership is from Canada.

Notes:
India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully flight-tested the stand-off anti-tank (SANT) missile from Pokhran range.
The indigenously designed and developed helicopter-launched missile has the ability to neutralise targets in a range of up to 10 kilometres. It also has a millimetre wave (MMW) seeker which provides high precision strike capability from distance.

Notes:
UN General Assembly declared December 12 as the International Day of Neutrality. Neutrality is defined as a legal status which arises when the state decides not to take part in any armed conflict.
International Day of Neutrality aims to raise awareness in public about the value of neutrality in international relations. Article 2 of the UN charter permits the member states to settle their disputes by peaceful means.

Notes:
In the United States, the House voted to pass the Protect Our Democracy Act, which addresses presidential abuses of power. The bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate, at present.
The Act also stresses the checks and balances between the branches of government. It aims to strengthen limitation on presidential pardons, requirement for candidates for president and vice president to submit their personal tax returns for 10 years, and acceptance of any foreign or domestic emoluments.

Notes:
OSCAR 1 (Orbiting Satellites Carrying Amateur Radio) is the world’s first non-governmental satellite, first amateur Radio Satellite. It was launched successfully on December 12, 1961.
It was also the first satellite built by a collection of private individuals. OSCAR 1 operated for nearly 20 days, testing radio reception from space.

Notes:
Four-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles was named Time’s 2021 Athlete of the Year, the Time magazine announced.
She had withdrawn from four event finals at the Tokyo Olympics, stating reasons of her mental health. However, the 24-year-old managed to earn all-around silver and a bronze in balance beam at the Tokyo Olympics.