Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2021

Notes:
The eco-activists in Karnataka’s  Mysuru city have decided to intensify the ‘Save Chamindi Hill’ campaign against the development activities being made atop Chamundi Hill.
The activists are planning to launch a protest along with the signature campaign and launch a legal battle against the government to protect the hill. The name of the hill comes from the Chamundeshwari Temple located at the peak.

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:
Bangalore-based Byju’s is an Indian multinational educational technology (ed-tech) company. It is the world’s most valuable ed-tech company with the m-cap of $18 billion.
Byju’s has acquired Austria-headquartered GeoGebra and the value of the transaction is about $100 million. GeoGebra is an interactive mathematics learning tool. This is also the ninth major acquisition of Byju’s.

Notes:
As per the ‘Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2021’, prevalence of hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) reached 9.1 per cent in 2020.
This is the highest prevalence that has been in the last 15 years, according to a new report jointly published by United Nations bodies including FAO, IFAD, WFP. The number of people living with hunger reached a total of 59.7 million people.

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:
The Chilean President Sebastián Piñera recently signed a law permitting same-sex couples to marry and adopt.
The ceremony was attended by activists for LGBT and broader human rights. As per the country, the law ‘puts all love relationships between two people on an equal footing’. The law includes recognition of parental ties, full spousal benefits and adoption rights for married same-sex couples.

Notes:
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Department of Space, and the government of India signed an MoU with smartphone maker OPPO to strengthen research and development of NavIC messaging service.
NavIC messaging service is the domestic satellite navigation system of India. They will develop indigenous solutions by incorporating the NavIC short messaging feature in the smartphones released by OPPO.

Notes:
Indian Government passed an amendment to the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation Act to ensure that account holders can access their insured deposit amount within 90 days.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended a bank deposit insurance programme and said that Rs 1,300 crore had been paid to over 1 lakh depositors whose banks faced financial crises. 3 lakh such depositors were set to receive funds stuck in such accounts.

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:
Maharashtra tops the list of states with maximum number of beneficiaries under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY).
It is followed by Tamilnadu and Gujarat. ABRY was announced as a part of Aatmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 package to boost the economy, increase the employment generation along with social security benefits.