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:
The 7th edition of ‘Kathakar – International Storytellers Festival’ has inaugurated by Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju in New Delhi on December 1, 2017. Kathakar is the only oral storytelling festival in India and is a part of Ghummakkad Narain- the Travelling Literature Festival which was started under the aegis of UNESCO in 2010. The Festival is an attempt not only to preserve the art form but also create new audiences for the same. This year festival will be hosted in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida and Mumbai.

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:
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:
Mumbai batsman Prithvi Shaw will lead a 16-member Indian team in ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2018. The 16-team event will be held in New Zealand from 13th January to 3rd February 2018. The 16-team event will be held in New Zealand from 13th January to 3rd February 2018. India has won the Under-19 World Cup title thrice in 2000, 2008 and 2012. They made the final of the 2016 edition in Bangladesh but lost to West Indies by five wickets. As part of India’s preparation for the coveted tournament, a camp will be held in Bengaluru starting on December 8, 2017.

Notes:
The Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh has been included in the National Capital Region (NCR). With this, the total number of districts in the NCR goes to 23. The decision to include Shamli in the NCR was taken at the 37th meeting of the National Capital Region Planning Board held in New Delhi on December 4, 2017. Besides Delhi, there are at present 22 districts- 13 of Haryana, 7 of Uttar Pradesh and two of Rajasthan in the NCR. Cities in the NCR get funds at attractive interest rates from NCRPB for infrastructure development. The meeting was chaired by Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. The meeting also decided that the forests should be identified as per the order of the Supreme Court and the ‘Aravallis’ are to be delineated in the entire NCR, as per the earlier decisions of the Board.

Notes:
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved debt financing and partial risk guarantee of $583 million to develop Reliance Power’s 750MW LNG based combined cycle power plant and LNG terminal project in Bangladesh. ADB’s financing package includes loans and partial risk guarantees for the power generation facility, as well as for the LNG terminal. The total project cost is approximately $1 billion.

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:
India’s largest floating solar power plant has become operational at the Banasura Sagar dam in Wayanad, Kerala on December 5, 2017. The solar power plant that floats on the surface of water has a capacity of 500 kilowatts (KW). It consists of 1,938 solar panels with a capacity of 260 watts, a 500 kilo volt ampere (KVA) transformer and 17 inverters. The unique feature of this plant is the anchoring mechanism used by the overwhelming technology to maintain the plant with the alteration of the water level. The total cost of the project is Rs. 9.25 crore.

Notes:
Anupriya Patel, MoS (Health & Family Welfare), has recently inaugurated the 22nd conference of Asian Harmonization Working Party (AHWP) at New Delhi. The 5-day conference is being conducted by Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) and National Drug Regulatory Authority (NDRA) of India in collaboration with Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. The key objective of the event is to develop and recommend approaches for the convergence and harmonization of medical device regulations in Asia and beyond and to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and expertise amongst regulators and the industry. The AHWP is a voluntary non-profit organization of the 30 national regulators of member countries and industry members with a goal to promote regulatory harmonization on medical device regulations in Asia and other regions in accordance with the guidance issued by International Medical Device Regulators Forums (IMDRF). It works in collaboration with related international organizations such as IMDRF, WHO, International Organization for Standardization (ISO), etc.