Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2017

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:
President Ram Nath Kovind has inaugurated the 18th Hornbill festival 2017 and the 54th Statehood Day celebrations of Nagaland at Naga Heritage Village, Kisama on December 1, 2017. The 10-day Hornbill fest is the perfect showcase of rich Naga culture and traditions, preserved over the years in the form of music, dance and food. It is also called the ‘Festival of Festivals’. The festival is named after the Indian hornbill, the large and colourful forest bird which is displayed in the folklore of most of the state’s tribes. The highlights of festival includes the traditional Naga Morungs exhibition and the sale of arts and crafts, food stalls, herbal medicine stalls, flower shows and sales, cultural medley – songs and dances, fashion shows, the Miss Nagaland beauty contest, traditional archery, Naga wrestling, indigenous games, and musical concert.

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:
The Andhra Pradesh assembly has unanimously passed the Kapu reservation bill to provide 5% quota to Kapu community under the Backward Castes (BC) ‘F’ Category in education and employment in the state. The bill will be sent to Centre for its approval and to include the Kapu reservation in Schedule 9 so that it will become legitimate. Though, Kapu quota if issued, will take the total quota in the state to 55%, which is more than 50% limit restricted by the Supreme Court. The state already has 29% reservation for Backward Castes under A, B, C, D and E categories. Apart from this, 15% and 6% reservations exist for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), respectively.

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.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has kept the key interest rate “repo rate” unchanged at 6% and reverse repo at 5.75% in its fifth bi-monthly monetary policy review for the year 2017-18 on December 6, 2017, as it feared that inflation may top the central bank’s medium-term target of 4%. It also maintained its neutral policy stance. Consequently, the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate remained at 6.25%. The central bank has raised inflation forecast to 4.3-4.7% in third and fourth quarters of current fiscal and kept the economic growth forecast “Gross Value Added (GVA)” unchanged at 6.7%.

Notes:
The Jambughoda Wildlife Sanctuary (JWS) is located in Jambughoda Tehsil, in the South-Central part of Gujarat and covers an area of 542.08 square kilometres. It is a forest of teak, bamboo and other miscellaneous species. Flora here includes Sag, sadad, shisham, khair, mahuda, bamboos, timru, bor, dhav, bili and dudhalo. It is home to Indian leopard, hyena, wolf, jackal, four horned antelope, Blue bull, wild boar, etc.

Notes:
The Armed Forces Flag Day is observed every year in India on December 7 to remember the sacrifices and commemorate the honour to the soldiers, airmen and sailors. The day observed since 1949 and is dedicated towards collection of funds from people for the welfare of the Armed Forces personnel. It is the duty of every Indian to look after the wellbeing of those who have sacrificed their lives for the nation. Flag Day is an opportunity for every Indian citizen to contribute most generously to the Armed Forces Flag Day Fund.

Notes:
The Koderma Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS) is located in Koderma district of Jharkhand and covers an area of 150.62 square kilometres. It is home to tiger, leopard, sloth bear, sambhar, cheetal, barking deer, nilgai, wild boar, giant squirrel, jackal, fox, hyaena, langur, porcupine etc. besides a variety of bird and reptile species. This wildlife sanctuary comprises hilly range of dry deciduous forests, traversed by plenty of rivulets. Besides shrubs and grasses, the important tree species here are Sal, Asan, Panjan, Kendu, Salai, Mahua, Piar, Sidha, Amla, Jamun, Bauhinia, Khair, Palas, Ber etc.

Notes:
Time magazine has named ‘The silence breakers’ its Person of the Year for 2017 referring to those individuals, mostly women, who came forward this year to publicly expose patterns of sexual harassment and assault by powerful public figures in America. Those recognized by Time range from famous actresses who took on disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein to ordinary women who shared their stories of abuse using the hashtag #MeToo and its foreign language equivalents. One of the figures singled out by Time, Ashley Judd was the first actress to come forward on the record to make accusations against the 65-year-old Weinstein.