Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2017

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the 15th edition of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit (HTLS) in New Delhi on November 30, 2017. The 2-day summit is based on the theme ‘The Irreversible Rise of India’ to bring up ‘revolutionary ideas’ to accelerate India’s growth and rise on the international stage. The list of dignitaries attended the summit includes Former US President Barack Obama, Afghanistan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Chattishgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh and many others.

Notes:
Salil S Parekh has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of Infosys, with effective from January 2, 2018. Parekh joins Infosys from Capgemini, where he was a member of the Group Executive Board. He has Master of Engineering degrees in Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Technology degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay.

Notes:
The Rajasthan government will soon introduce ‘Guru-Shishya’ programme in all districts, under which college students can raise discuss with their teachers the issues and problems related to their institutes. According to state Higher Education Minister Kiran Maheshwari, the programme will be held in one nodal college in each district where students selected on merit and elected members of students union would participate. It will soon begin from Jaipur.

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Mohamad Al Jounde (16) from Syria has been honoured with the International Children’s Peace Prize 2017 for his efforts to ensure the rights of Syrian refugee children. Al Jounde, a refugee of the Syrian civil war, set up a school together with his family in a Lebanese refugee camp that currently provides 200 children with education. The prize is an initiative of the KidsRights Foundation, an international children’s aid and advocacy organisation based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It is awarded annually to a child who has made a significant contribution to advocating children’s rights and improving the situation of vulnerable children such as orphans, child labourers and children with HIV/AIDS.

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The Kumbh Mela has been inscribed on the UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’ at its 12th session in Jeju, South Korea on December 7, 2017. This inscription is the third in two years for India following the inscriptions of yoga and Nouroz. The inscription of elements on the list helps countries which are a part of UNESCO’s convention for safeguarding cultural heritage to mobilize international cooperation and assistance for ensuring that communities continue to practice and transmit such aspects of their heritage. According to UNESCO, Kumbh Mela (the festival of the sacred Pitcher) is the largest peaceful congregation of pilgrims on earth, during which participants bathe or take a dip in a sacred river. The festival is held at Allahabad, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nasik every four years by rotation and is attended by millions of people irrespective of caste, creed or gender.

Notes:
Recently, Gurdeep Singh from India created three new senior national records in +105 Kilogram weight category in the just-concluded IWF World Weightlifting Championships at Anaheim in USA. Singh finished 13th overall with a total lift of 388kg (172 + 216) but created national records in snatch, clean and jerk, and the total lift. In snatch, he bettered his own earlier national record of 171kg by one kilogramme. In the total lift also, Gurdeep bettered the earlier national record of 384kg.

Notes:
Mamta Kalia, the renowned Hindi scholar and writer, has been chosen for the 27th edition of Vyas Samman-2017 for her novel “Dukkham Sukkham”. According to the KK Birla Foundation, which instituted the award in 1991, Vyas Samman is given annually to an outstanding work of Hindi literature by an Indian citizen published in the last 10 years. The award includes a cash prize of Rs 3.50 lakh. “Dukkham Sukkham” is a saga of a lower middle-class family’s three generations. The literary work focuses on the transition in relations and situations of our society.

Notes:
The 7th International Ground Water Conference (IGWC-2017) will be hosted by India in New Delhi with a theme of “Ground water Vision 2030- Water Security, Challenges and Climate Change Adaptation” from December 11 to 13, 2017. The conference has been organized by the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkee and Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) under the aegis of Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. The delegates from 15 countries are expected to participate in the conference and 250 research papers will be presented, including 32 Keynote papers. The Conference is expected to take stock of present status and challenges of Groundwater management in the country under the changing water use and climatic scenarios.

Notes:
The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry (MoHUA ) has signed an agreement with German firm GIZ for technical cooperation in the implementation of transport projects in Coimbatore, Bhubaneshwar and Kochi. The agreement has been signed by the ministry’s officer on special duty Mukund Kumar Sinha, and GIZ Country Director Wolfgang Hanning in the presence of Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. As per agreement, an amount of around Rs 29 crore through GIZ is envisaged for this purpose over a period of three years. The main objective of the agreement is to improve planning and implementation of sustainable urban transport.

Notes:
India’s first mobile food testing laboratory, which will enable on-the-spot food safety tests to be conducted in Goa, has officially launched by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on December 10, 2017. This is the first ever ‘Food Safety on Wheel’ mobile laboratory in the country. The vehicle is equipped to conduct on-the-spot tests to check the food quality. It will also check the hygiene level of water and the results can be received within 15 minutes. The mobile lab will do away with need to get the food samples to the FDA laboratory near Panaji for tests. It will cut the delays. The mobile laboratory costs Rs 45 lakh and it has been fully funded by the Centre.