Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2021

Notes:
The 94-year-old renowned Indian architect Balakrishna Doshi has recently won the Royal Gold Medal 2022, by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
It is the highest honor for architecture in the United Kingdom. During the architect’s 70 year career, which included 100 projects, he has significantly contributed in both practice and his teaching.

Notes:
The NITI Aayog launched Convoke 2021-22, a national level symposium in partnership with Bharti Foundation.
Through this platform, school teachers and heads of government schools and teachers from the Bharti Foundation network will be encouraged to use research-based solutions through scientific approaches, for improving learning outcomes.

Notes:
The present world chess champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway defended his title and won the FIDE World Championship in Dubai.
Carlsen beat Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia, crossing the seven point threshold to win the global tournament held at Dubai’s Expo 2020 in the United Arab Emirates.Carlsen clinched his fifth world championship title.

Notes:
The state government of Himachal Pradesh recently notified to constitute a “Samanya Varg Aayog”. This was notified amid an aggressive protest by the general category people.
A large number of people in the state belonging to the general category had been demanding to constitute a commission for them.

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:
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:
UN recognised the 38 degrees Celsius measured in Siberian region of Russia, as the new record high for the Arctic
The heat equivalent to 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit was seen on June 20, 2020 in the Russian town of Verkhoyansk. It marked the highest temperature ever recorded above the Arctic Circle, as per the World Meteorological Organization.

Notes:
Ladakh recently got its first ever FM radio station in its capital city Leh. The first-ever Top FM radio was launched in Leh.
The frequency for Leh & Kargil will be 91.1 FM and it will cover 50 kilometres aerial distance in radius in the Union Territory.

Notes:
The world’s largest natural corundum blue sapphire- named the “Queen of Asia”, was found from a gem pit in Ratnapura, Sri Lanka.
Ratnapura, also known as gem city, is situated around 85 km away from capital Colombo. The rare gem weighs around 310 kg. The National Gem and Jewellery Authority of Sri Lanka certified the gem stone and said that more tests are to be carried out on the gem stone.

Notes:
The World Health Organization recently released the “Tracking Universal Coverage – 2021 Global Monitoring Report”.
On the occasion of Universal Health Coverage day, World Bank also released the “Global Monitoring Report on Financial Protection in Health 2021”. The report showed that the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to halt two decades of global progress towards Universal Health Coverage.