Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2017

Notes:
Indian actor Parvathy Thiruvoth Kottuvatta has won the Best Actor Female Award at the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI-2017) for her role in Malayalam film “Take Off”. The movie, directed by Mahesh Narayan, is based on the ordeal of Indian nurses in the city of Tikrit, Iraq, in 2014. It also won the Special Jury Award which included a Silver Peacock, a certificate and cash prize of Rs 15 lakh. Beside this, Marathi film “Kshitiz A Horizon” (directed by Manouj Kadaamh) won the ICFT Unesco Gandhi Medal 2017. The Prestigious Silver Peacock Award for the Best Debut Film of a Director goes to Director Kiro Russo for the film “Dark Skull”. The theme of IFFI 2017 was “Celebrating the Future of Cinema” and Canada was the focus country.

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:
Wrestler Sushil Kumar and Boxer M C Mary C. Kom have submitted their resignation as National Sports Observers. As both the top athletes are still active in their respective fields, wrestling(Men) and Boxing (Women). This decision came after Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore made it clear that active sportspersons will not be considered for the position. Both are among 12 national observers appointed in March 2017. The list also includes Olympic-gold-medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra, double Olympic-medallist Sushil Kumar and former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Akhil Kumar, among others.  The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has recently accepted their resignations as National Sports observers.

Notes:
Deepika Kumari from India has won bronze medal at the Indoor Archery World Cup Stage 2 that concluded in Bangkok, Thailand on December 3, 2017. She defeated 13th seeded Sayana Tsyrempilova of Russia 7-3 in the women’s recurve bronze play-off.

Notes:
The World Soil Day (WSD) is observed every year on December 5 to communicate messages on the importance of soil quality for food security, healthy ecosystems and human well-being. The 2017 theme is “Caring for the Planet starts from the Ground”. It is celebrated annually at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) headquarters in Rome, the regional offices and through national and local events.

Notes:
Adithyan, the noted South Indian music director, has passed away in Hyderabad on December 6, 2017. The musician is known for his numbers in films such as the super hit gangster flick Amaran, besides Seevalaperi Pandi, in the early 90s. He has scored music for many Telugu and Malayalam movies, the sources added. Adithyan also hosted a culinary show in a popular Tamil TV channel.

Notes:
Uttar Pradesh has become the first State to endorse the Central government’s draft bill that makes instant triple talaq a cognisable and non-bailable offence. The draft law, which provides for three-year imprisonment and a fine to a man trying to divorce his wife by uttering “talaq” three times, got the State government’s approval at a Cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on December 5, 2017.

Notes:
The Taj Mahal, a mausoleum crafted in ivory-white marble, has been named 2nd best UNESCO world heritage site in the world, according to a new survey by travel portal TripAdvisor. The ‘monument of love’ was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. It is rated after Cambodia’s Angkor Wat. Other popular heritage sites on the survey include the Great Wall of China built by Xu Da of Northern Qi Dynasty in 1368 AD and South America’s Incan citadel Machu Picchu in Peru.