Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2017

Notes:
The French film on AIDS “120 Beats Per Minute”, directed by Robin Campillo, has won the prestigious Golden Peacock award for best film at the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI-2017), while the film’s actor Nahuel Perez Biscayart won the Silver Peacock in the best actor male category in Panaji, Goa. Apart from this, Amitabh Bachchan was felicitated with the Indian Film Personality of the Year Award 2017 and the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan.

Notes:
The Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary (AWS) is situated at Kamrup district in Guwahati, Assam and is spread over an area of 78.64 square kilometers. It consists of Amchang Reserve Forest, South Amchang Reserve Forest and Khanapara Reserve Forest. The sanctuary represents one of the rich and ecologically diverse habitat for the wide variety of animals and plant species. Hollockgibbon, Chinese pangolin, Flying squirrel, Assamese Macaque, Capped languor, Slow loris, Leopard, Elephant, Sambar, Barking Deer, Gaur etc., are the principal animals found in the wildlife sanctuary.

Notes:
Suresh Prabhu, the Union Minister of Industry and Commerce, was the chief guest for the Shared Value Summit 2017 in New Delhi on December 1. The summit was organised by Shared Value Initiative India, Institute for Competitiveness (India), and SoulAce & India Council on Competitiveness in association with BusinessLine. The theme of the summit was “Equity and Empowerment”. The purpose of the summit is to encourage businesses to adopt the practice of shared value by imbibing the spirit of inclusivity in their business models. The summit aims to provide a platform to identify and address the barriers that exist to equality and empowerment in the Indian society.

Notes:
Uhuru Kenyatta has been sworn-in for a second and final five-year term for the post of President of Republic of Kenya, a month after winning a bitterly disputed election rerun marked by delays and boycott. Several heads of states and tens of thousands of his supporters attended the inauguration at a stadium in the capital, Nairobi, on 28th November 2017. Kenyatta won 98% of the votes cast in October’s poll, which was boycotted by the main opposition leader, Raila Odinga, who alleged the poll wouldn’t be free and fair.

Notes:
Japan will host a ministerial meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on December 15, which will be focused on finding peaceful ways to pressure North Korea to halt its nuclear and ballistic missile tests and de-nuclearise the Korean peninsula. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to brief the council. This year’s meeting has the backing of nine members – the United States, France, Britain, Italy, Japan, Senegal, Sweden, Ukraine and Uruguay.

Notes:
The Telangana State Government will set up the world’s first IT Campus for differently-abled persons. On the occasion of the World Disability Day (WDD), the state Government has signed an agreement with Vindhya E-Infomedia Private Limited to set up the Information and Technology (IT) campus to focus on creating employment opportunities for persons with disabilities on December 3, 2017. The proposed campus will be set up in an area of 10 acres near the IT park developed by the state Government near the Hyderabad international airport. The campus will have all the amenities like Training, Residential facility and Delivery centers that will cater to various clients both domestic and International. The campus is expected to create two thousand jobs in next 5 years by providing apt training.

Notes:
The 2017 Konark dance festival has started on December 1, 2017 in backdrop of the Sun temple in Konark, Odisha. It is one of the biggest dance festivals held in India. The 5-day dance festival opened near the world famous Sun Temple of Konark with Odissi recital by the dancers of Nupur Dance Academy of Bhubaneswar under the tutelage of Niranjan Rout and group. To attract more foreign tourists to the festival, Odisha Tourism included performances of two foreign dance groups from Malaysia, who will perform classical Indian dance during the festival. Coinciding with the dance festival, International Sand Art Festival has started at Chandrabhaga beach in Konark. Eight international sand sculptors and 62 national artists were being exhibited their works in the festival.

Notes:
South Korea and the United States launched their largest-ever joint aerial drill exercise “Vigilant Ace-2017” on December 4 and will run till Dec 8, 2017. Around 12,000 US service members, including from the Marines and Navy, are joining South Korean troops. The joint exercise is designed to enhance readiness and operational capability and to ensure peace and security on the Korean peninsula, the US military had said before the drills began. The exercise comes after a week after North Korea said it had tested its most advanced missile as part of a weapons programme that has raised global tensions.

Notes:
India’s first Madame Tussauds wax museum has officially opened in New Delhi with 50 life-like figures spanning across history, sports, music, films, and politics, for the public at the iconic Regal building in central Delhi. The 50 life-like wax figures include multiple national and international celebrities such as Sachin Tendulkar, Mary Kom, Milkha Singh, Lionel Messi, Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit Nene, as well as political leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, PM Narendra Modi. This is the 23rd Madame Tussauds attraction globally. It will be open for all seven days with tickets priced at Rs 960 for adults and Rs 760 for children. The timing is 10am to 7.30pm.

Notes:
The International conference on climate change has inaugurated by Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari to draw attention towards the adverse effects of global warming in the Hindu Kush mountain range. The conference ‘Resilient Hindu Kush Himalaya: Developing Solutions towards a Sustainable Future for Asia’ is organized by Nepal’s Ministry for Environment in collaboration with International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). The 4-day conference is attended by more than 300 experts from different countries of Asia including India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Myanmar. V K Saraswat, member of India’s Neeti foundation is leading the Indian delegation in the conference. The Hindu Kush Himalaya, a mountain range that spans from Afghanistan to Myanmar sources 10 major river systems in Asia that provide water, ecosystem services and livelihoods to more than 210 million people. The region holds and distributes water for more than 1.3 billion people living in downstream river basins.