Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2021

Notes:
Nauru, Kiribati and the Federated States of Micronesia are island countries located in the western Pacific Ocean.
The United States, Australia and Japan have announced that they will jointly fund the construction of an undersea cable to boost internet access in three small Pacific countries. This is regarded as the counter to the rising Chinese influence in the region.

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:
Dubai has become the world’s first government to turn completely paperless, the Emirate’s Crown Prince, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
The Government announced that it provided a savings of 1.3 billion Dirham (USD 350 million) and 14-million-man hours. “The Dubai Paperless Strategy” was implemented in five phases. The strategy was implemented across all 45 government entities in the emirate, to provide than 1,800 digital services.

Notes:
The Odisha government and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) signed an agreement to announce the launch of Mission Shakti Living Lab.
It aims to empower women economically and promote gender equality. The Mission Shakti Living Lab will promote the use of digital technologies and e-commerce. The Mission Shakti was originally launched in 2001 for holistic development of women.

Notes:
The Asian Development Bank trimmed its 2021 growth forecast for India to 9.7% from the earlier estimate of 10.0% made in September. However it left the 2022 growth forecast unchanged at 7.5%.
The growth forecasts for developing Asia for this year and next were also slashed to 7.0% and 5.3%, in order to reflect risks and uncertainty brought by the new Omicron coronavirus variant.

Notes:
World Trade Organization (WTO) panel has asked India to withdraw its subsidies under the ‘Production Assistance, the Buffer Stock, and Marketing and Transportation Schemes.’
Australia, Brazil and Guatemala raised complaints against India over its policy measures in the sugar sector, at WTO in the year 2019.  WTO also asked India to conform to its obligations under the Agreement on Agriculture and the SCM Agreement.

Notes:
Majhi Vasundhara Abhiyan is implemented by Maharashtra Government. The state’s Department of Environment and Climate Change and UNICEF have developed the Majhi Vasundhara curriculum on environment for school students.
The curriculum for Class I-VIII includes Biodiversity Conservation, Solid Waste Management, Water Resources Management, Pollution & Climate Change.

Notes:
As per a new study published, Bubbler is a breathalyzer, which performs viral RNA detection to diagnose SARS-CoV-2, just by making the patient exhale into the device.
Its name is derived from the bubbling sound that occurs when the patient exhales. The Bubbler reverse transcribes RNA from airborne virus particles into DNA to be tested via PCR. It can also barcode that DNA, allowing samples to be linked directly to the patient they have come from and be used for sequencing.

Notes:
The state of the world’s land and water resources for food and agriculture (SOLAW 2021) report was released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
From 8 to 9 December 2021, the Land and Water Days are hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The central theme of SOLAW 2021 is “Systems at breaking point”.

Notes:
Indian government approved a Rs 76,000-crore scheme to boost semiconductor and display manufacturing in the country.
Under Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme, the Government will support 100 domestic companies of semiconductor design for Integrated Circuits (ICs), Chipsets, System on Chips (SoCs), Systems & IP Cores and semiconductor linked design. The scheme will offer incentive of eligible expenditure and product deployment linked incentive.