Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2022

Notes:
The Sherpa Meeting of India’s G20 Presidency is being organised in the city of Udaipur, Rajasthan. It is being attended by international Sherpas, their delegations, and heads of invited International Organizations (IOs) from G20 Members, 9 Guest countries among others.
Discussions of the 1st Sherpa Meeting were initiated by India’s G20 Sherpa, Amitabh Kant.

Notes:
Tamil Nadu Government has raised the monthly pension amount of differently-abled persons from Rs. 1000 to Rs. 1500 from January 2023.
An expert committee has been formed by the state to identify vacancies in all the departments where differently abled can be employed.

Notes:
Estonia, a country in Northern Europe signed a USD 200 million contract with the United States to purchase High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).
The contract is Estonia’s largest arms procurement project ever. In addition to the weapon system, Estonia will also procure ammunition, communications solutions, training, logistics, and life-cycle solutions.

Notes:
Iran has abolished ‘morality police’ known as the Gasht-e Ershad or ‘Guidance Patrol’. The unit was established in 2006 and their patrols were feared among women.
The custodial death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was picked up by the vice squads in Tehran and declared dead created public outcry and led to protestors.

Notes:
Bharat Ratna Dr BR Ambedkar’s 67th Mahaparinirvan Diwas is observed on December 6. Lakhs of followers from all over the country gathered at Chaityabhoomi in Dadar in Mumbai to pay tribute to the great leader.
Chaitya Bhoomi is a Buddhist chaitya and the cremation place of B. R. Ambedkar, the 20th-century Indian intellectual and the chief architect of the Indian Constitution.

Notes:
World Bank raised its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for India during the current financial year (FY23) to 6.9 per cent from 6.5 per cent.
As per the India Development Update, the World Bank cited the economy’s resilience to external headwinds, and a strong out-turn in the second quarter of the current financial year. The report forecasts that the economy will grow at a slightly lower rate of 6.6 per cent in fiscal FY24 from the earlier projected 7 per cent.

Notes:
Yoginder K Alagh, a veteran economist and former Union minister, reecntly passed away at the age of 83.
He was the Union minister of state for Planning and Programme Implementation, Science and Technology and Power during 1996-98. He also served as the Vice Chancellor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.

Notes:
India’s telecom regulatory authority recently floated a consultation paper about Calling Name Presentation (CNAP).
It seeks to help telephone subscribers identify and make informed choices about incoming calls from tele-marketers and others. The feature would provide the called individual with information about the calling.

Notes:
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has asked Google to comply with its advisory to refrain from publishing advertisements of online betting platforms.
The latest guideline was issued by the Ministry in October after it noted violations of a previous advisory in June 2022, as some online offshore betting platforms started using news websites as a surrogate product to advertise betting platforms on television channels.

Notes:
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has been named as the 2022 person of the year by Time magazine.
The Times cited that the President has put up a feisty resistance against the Russian invasion for nearly a year now. Zelensky shares the 2022 title with the spirit of Ukraine. When Russia declared war against its neighbour, Zelensky announced his decision to stay in Kyiv and rally his country.