Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2021

Notes:
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is implementing an Umbrella scheme namely Atal Vayo Abhyudaya Yojana (AVYAY).
The scheme aims for welfare of Senior Citizens across the country. This has several components, namely Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana (RVY), SACRED, IPSrC, SAPSrC among others.

Notes:
Ministry of Civil Aviation launched the ‘Air Suvidha’ portal in August 2020 for seamless air travel during Covid pandemic.
Recently, in the wake of the Omicron threat, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare mandated contactless self-declaration at Air Suvidha portal. It aims to provide hassle-free air travel to all international passengers arriving in India.

Notes:
UPI is the single-largest retail payment system in the country, with 14 crore transactions per day in October 2021 and 50% transactions were below Rs 200.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently proposed to increase the transaction limit for payments made through Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for the Retail Direct Scheme and initial public offering (IPO) applications to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 2 lakh. RBI also proposes td launch UPI-based payment products for feature phone users.

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:
Japanese Entrepreneur and Fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa and producer Yozo Hirano, blasted off for the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft along with Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin.
They are the first self-paying space tourists to visit the space station since 2009. Maezawa and Hirano are scheduled to spend 12 days in space.

Notes:
Mathematician Neena Gupta from Kolkata’s Indian Statistical Institute has been awarded the ‘2021 DST-ICTP-IMU Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians from developing countries.
She became the third woman to receive the award ever it was introduced in 2005. She was honoured for her contribution in affine algebraic geometry and commutative algebra. The Ramanujan Prize is given to an eminent Mathematician less than the age of 45.

Notes:
Global Methane Initiative (GMI) is a voluntary Government and an informal international partnership having members from 45 countries including the US and Canada. It was created in 2004 and India is one of the members since its inception
A Steering Leadership meeting of Global Methane Initiative (GMI) has been held virtually in which India’s representative from the Ministry of Coal was the Vice Chairman. The Chairperson of the Steering Leadership is from Canada.

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:
The Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor project in Varanasi connects the famous Kashi Vishwanath temple and the ghats along the river Ganga.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first phase of the project, which has been built at a cost of ₹ 339 crore. The project aims to provide easy movement of pilgrims and devotees between the ghats and the temple.

Notes:
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett became the first Prime Minister of Israel to visit the United Arab Emirates.
He recently arrived in the United Arab Emirates to meet the Gulf state’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. The two countries signed a US-brokered agreement known as the Abraham Accords.