Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2021

Notes:
Union Minister for Ports Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated the River Cruise Services at the Marmugao Port in Goa.
Mormugao Port is a 32- year- old port, located in South Goa. As per the Ministry, any entrepreneur can start a new and similar type of Service from this berthing facility, which is available in the Port.

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:
India’s Harnaaz Sandhu won the new Miss Universe title. The 21-year-old contestant from Punjab won the title 21 years after Lara Dutta won the title in 2000.
Harnaaz Sandhu represented India today at the 70th Miss Universe 2021, held in Eilat, Israel. Ms Sandhu claimed the crown edging out Paraguay’s Nadia Ferreira and South Africa’s Lalela Mswane. Only two Indians have won the title of Miss Universe – Sushmita Sen in 1994 and Lara Dutta in 2000.

Notes:
Max Verstappen recently became the first Dutchman ever to win the Formula One world championship title.
He achieved this feat when he won a dramatic season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit. The 24-year old is a Belgian-Dutch racing driver, who has been contesting since 2015.

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:
Scientists at the Himalayan Research Group NGO, a part of Department of Science and Technology Programme of Science for Equity Empowerment and Development (SEED) Division devised a customized solar water and space heating system.
Named the ‘Solar hamam’, the system is a cost-effective alternative to fuelwood. In the higher Himalayan region, 50% of fuelwood is consumed for the purpose of heating and is also a main reason for forest degradation.

Notes:
India, Iran and Uzbekistan held a virtual second trilateral working group meeting on the joint use of Chabahar port.
Dr. Sanjeev Ranjan, secretary, Ministry of ports, shipping and waterways co-chaired the meet along with his counterparts. India is participating in the development of the first phase of the Shahid Behesti Terminal, Chabahar port in cooperation with Iran.

Notes:
The Geographical Indications Registry (GIR) has accepted the plea to rename Bihar Makhana as Mithila Makhana.
It also suggested amendments in the brand logo to reflect its origins along with identifying and protecting the product’s Geographical Indications (GI) rights. Makhana or fox nut is one of the most famous products of mithila region, span across Bihar and Jharkand.

Notes:
The UNESCO has added Durga Puja to its ‘Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’.
The 16th Committee of UNESCO for safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) at its meeting held in Paris added Durga Puja in Kolkata on the Representative List. This is the first festival of Asia, to be included in the prestigious list.

Notes:
The Government of India has decided to notify the Najafgarh Jheel, which is the second largest water body in Delhi-NCR as a transboundary wetland for its restoration and rejuvenation.
Najafgarh Jheel is fed by Sahibi River and was a vast lake in south west Delhi and was connected to the river Yamuna by a drain called the Najafgarh nullah.