Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2021

Notes:
The Union Cabinet passed a proposal to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years — the same as men.
This step is based on recommendations submitted to NITI Aayog in December 2020 by the task force headed by Jaya Jaitly, which was constituted to examine “matters pertaining to age of motherhood, imperatives of lowering MMR (Maternal Mortality Rate), improvement of nutritional levels and related issues”.

Notes:
Ministry of Women and Child Development has organised a National Conference on Tuberculosis at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu was the Chief Guest, along with Minister of Women & Child Development Smriti Irani and Minister of Health & Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya. Prime Minister of India announced the government’s vision to eliminate TB by 2025, ahead of the SDG timeline of 2030.

Notes:
India being world’s second largest coal producer and it is currently producing over 729 million tonnes of coal. Jharkhand has the most Coal reserves in the country.
Union Minister of Coal Pralhad Joshi has recently launched the fourth tranche of auction of 99 coal mines including 24 new mines. Of these 99 mines, 59 are fully explored mines and 40 are partially explored. These mines are spread across 8 states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Notes:
World Arabic Language Day is observed on 18 December to honour the language, which is spoken by over 400 million people globally.
It has been celebrated since 2012 to mark the adoption of Arabic as the sixth official language of the United Nations by the UN General Assembly. This year, the theme of the World Arabic Language Day is “Arabic Language, a bridge between civilisations”.

Notes:
Indian badminton champion K.Srikanth has become the very first Indian man to reach the final match of BWF World badminton championship. But unfortunately, K.Srikanth lost against Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew at the final match and ended up winning a silver-medal.
K.Srikanth was ranked world number 1 at the BWF ranking in April 2018 and is the recipient of Arjuna award in 2015 and Padma Shri in 2018.

Notes:
The Nadi Utsav (River Festival) is being celebrated in India across 16 states and 41 districts from Uttarkashi to Kerala, under the four chosen themes of Cleanliness, Patriotism, Nature and Ecology, Devotion and Spirituality. The festival is being conducted from 16th Dec to 23rd Dec 2021.
This is in line with the Prime Minister’s speech in Man Ki Bath, urging all people living near rivers to celebrate a river festival at least once in a year.

Notes:
India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has been appointed the brand ambassador of the state of Uttarakhand, to promote sports and create mental health awareness among the state’s youth.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami made the announcement regarding the same. The 24-year-old was born in the state’s Haridwar district.

Notes:
James Webb is a space telescope, which is regarded as the successor to Nasa’s Hubble space telescope, is set to be launched into space from French Guiana onboard an Ariane 5 rocket on 25th December.
It is said to be 100 times more powerful than the Hubble space telescope is built to research through space and time on formation of the universe and our solar system.

Notes:
Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog launched the Vernacular Innovation Program which enables entrepreneurs to have access to innovative ecosystem in 22 mother tongue languages.
Atal Innovation Mission will train a Vernacular Task Force in each of the 22 scheduled languages. Each task force includes vernacular language teachers, subject experts,  technical writers, and the leadership of regional Atal Incubation Centres.

Notes:
Myanmar, earlier known as Burma, is the world’s biggest source of jade. It is a green-coloured mineral used in jewellery.
Recently, after a jade mine in Myanmar was hit by a landslide, over 100 people are feared missing and one person is confirmed dead. The landslide is believed to have been caused by the overflow of rubble discarded from trucks to open-pit mines.