Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2021

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:
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:
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:
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:
Telangana is currently witnessing cases of Covidengue, which occurs when a COVID-19 patient is infected with the Dengue virus.
Over 8 cases of Covidengue cases have been recorded in Telangana. The symptoms of this syndemic disease include “distress, shortness of breathing, chills, body pains and joint pains. COVID-19 and Dengue have similar kinds of symptoms.

Notes:
Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) is a US government program, launched in 2019, under former President Donald Trump. It is also dubbed as “Remain in Mexico” policy.
It mandates that certain citizens and nationals of countries other than Mexico be returned to Mexico while their American removal proceedings are pending. UNICEF has expressed concern about the re-implementation of the program.

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:
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:
All 5 central Asian countries- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have been invited by India as the Republic day guest.
This is the first time that all central Asian countries will be present as the guest. In 2018, countries of ASEAN bloc were invited. Prime Minister Modi had visited all Central Asian countries in 2015, a first by any Indian Prime Minister.