Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2023

Notes:
The children of imprisoned Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi have accepted this year’s Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf, having not seen her for seven years.
The renowned advocate for women’s rights and democracy in her home country of Iran, is currently being held in the Evin prison in Tehran, the capital, serving an eight-year sentence for “spreading propaganda”.

Notes:
S.R. Bommai was the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, whose government was controversially dismissed in 1989 by the central government imposing President’s rule in the state by invoking Article 356. Bommai had challenged this decision in courts, leading to the landmark 1994 Supreme Court judgment that ushered in safeguards for protecting rights of states against arbitrary imposition of President’s rule.

Notes:
Alliance of Small Island States is an intergovernmental organization of small island and low-lying coastal countries. The AOSIS criticized the COP28 draft agreement for lacking transparency and clarity on phasing out fossil fuels. Small island nations are most vulnerable to rising seas and global warming and sought much stronger commitments on rapidly cutting greenhouse gas emissions.Cedric Schuster, an Australian politician from the Pacific island nation of Samoa, is the current chairperson of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) inter-governmental organization.

Notes:
Vishnu Deo Sai is the second tribal leader from Chhattisgarh after Ajit Jogi to be appointed as the state’s Chief Minister. He is a five-time MLA from the Kunkuri constituency in Jashpur district, which has a large tribal population. Known for keeping a low profile, Sai has risen from the grassroots, starting as a panchayat member. His administrative experience, clean image and deep connections with local communities seemed to have tilted the scales in his favour for the CM post. His elevation is significant for tribal politics in the state. It fulfils BJP’s promise of rotating the CM post between tribal and non-tribal leaders, made after the death of BJP’s influential tribal face Dr. Raman Singh.

Notes:
The name of the joint military exercise conducted between Indian and US Army Special Forces is “Vajra Prahar”. The 14th edition of this exercise concluded in December 2023 at the Joint Training Node in Umroi, Meghalaya. It aims at sharing best practices between the special forces of both armies in areas like joint mission planning and counter-terrorism operations. The context is that such military collaborations enhance defense ties and interoperability between India and the US.

Notes:
The Defence Cyber Agency is the Indian military’s dedicated three-service cyber command. Headquartered in New Delhi and headed by a two-star military officer, the DCyA is tasked with handling cybersecurity threats to India. It brings together cyber expertise from the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force through their respective Cyber Emergency Response Teams that were set up in 2021. The DCyA aims to unify cyber capabilities across India’s military branches to strengthen national security, especially to defend against cyber attacks from adversaries like China.

Notes:
In an effort to boost tourism and attract more visitors, Iran has decided to cancel visa requirements for visitors from India. The decision, made by the Iranian Cabinet, is part of a larger initiative to waive visa requirements for 33 countries. The Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts, Ezzatollah Zarghami, believes that this move will neutralize “Iranophobia” campaigns and increase tourism arrivals. This decision follows similar actions by Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam, who have also waived visa requirements for visitors from India. Iran has seen a significant increase in foreign arrivals, with 4.4 million visitors during the first eight months of the current Iranian year, representing a 48.5% increase compared to the same period last year. The 33 countries approved for Iran’s visa-waiver program include India, Russia, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, and several others. Iran had previously implemented visa waiver programs for visitors from Turkey, Azerbaijan, Oman, China, Armenia, Lebanon, and Syria.

Notes:
The United Kingdom has seen a notable rise in cases of norovirus infection in recent weeks, often colloquially called the winter vomiting bug. By early December, the UK had reported around 1500 confirmed norovirus cases – a 60% jump from last year signalling a challenging winter for healthcare systems. Marked by vomiting, nausea and diarrhea, norovirus spreads quickly in closed settings. With no vaccine available, the spike in cases highlights the importance of hygiene, sanitation and adequate fluid intake in curbing transmission.

Notes:
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) conducted a joint anti-terrorism exercise to combat the use of the internet for terrorist, separatist, and extremist purposes. The exercise, hosted by India in New Delhi, aimed to improve the cooperation between SCO member states in identifying and suppressing the misuse of the internet for illicit activities. The exercise focused on exchanging positive experiences in collecting digital evidence, countering the financing of terrorist activities through digital assets, and enhancing the response to cyber-attacks on critical information infrastructure. The exercise was seen as an important step towards strengthening the SCO’s anti-terrorist capabilities.
Prior to the exercise, the National Security Council Secretariat of India organized a seminar on countering the misuse of the internet for terrorists, separatists, and extremists. The seminar, the fourth edition under the SCO’s Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), aimed to discuss various challenges related to internet misuse, including AI, dark web, cryptocurrency, and social media platforms. The member states expressed their interest in deepening cooperation to combat internet misuse and address cybersecurity issues.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, one of India’s most prestigious engineering and research institutes, is establishing the Kotak School of Sustainability on its campus in collaboration with Kotak Mahindra Bank. This marks India’s first fully integrated school focusing holistically on sustainability education, research and solutions. Being set up with support from Kotak Bank, the school will offer undergraduate and postgraduate programs on various sustainability themes and will be housed in a state-of-the-art green building with net zero energy and waste systems. This highlights the rising global and national priority for sustainability across higher education.