Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2017

Notes:
Rahul Singh, Founder & CEO of The Beer Café, has taken over as the new President of the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) in New Delhi. The appointment was made unanimously after Riyaaz Amlani, CEO & MD, Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality Pvt. Ltd. Resigned from his duties due to health reasons. The NRAI represents independent & chain of Restaurant/Bars/Café owners and operators of India.

Notes:
India has won the first-ever South Asian Regional Badminton Team Championship. In the title clash played in Guwahati on 6th December 2017, India defeated Nepal, 3-0. The Indian team, which came into the Final without losing a single match, continued their good run with Aryaman Tandon drawing first blood in the boys’ singles competition. He defeated Dipesh Dhami 21-9, 21-15. Ashmita Chaliha continued the Indian juggernaut as she danced her way to a 21-9, 21-6 win over Rashila Maharjan in the Girls’ singles event. In Boys’ Doubles, the pair of Arintap Dasgupta and Krishna Prasad came back from a game behind to beat the duo of Dipesh Dhami and Nabin Shrestha 19-21, 21-14, 21-11 to seal the deal for India.

Notes:
The Madhya Pradesh Assembly has unanimously passed a Bill awarding death to those found guilty of raping girls aged 12 and below on December 4, 2017. With this, Madhya Pradesh has become the India’s first State where those convicted of such rapes will face the gallows. The Capital punishment would be awarded to convicts under Section 376 (A), which is related to rape, and Section 376 (D, A), pertaining to gang rape. The Bill will now be sent to the President for his assent after which it will become a law.

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 National Commission for Minorities has set up a 3-member committee to look into whether Hindus should get minority status in seven states and a Union Territory where they are not the dominant religious group. The panel, led by the commission’s Vice Chairman George Kurien, has been given three months to submit its report. The commission’s decision is based on a plea filed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ashwini Upadhyaya, whose petition on the matter was rejected by the Supreme Court on November 10. The court had directed him to approach the minorities’ commission. The states and the Union Territory named in the plea are Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Punjab.

Notes:
Cristiano Ronaldo, the Real Madrid and Portugal superstar, has won the 2017 Ballon d’Or award for the year’s best player in Paris, France. It is his record-equalling 5th Ballon d’Or award with his great Barcelona rival Lionel Messi. Ronaldo, who also won the FIFA Men’s Player of the Year award in October 2017, added the 2017 Ballon d’Or to his previous wins in 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2016.

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 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.

Notes:
The World Human Rights Day (WHRD) is observed every year on December 10 to commemorate the day in 1948 when the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. It establishes the equal dignity and worth of every person. This year, in 2017, the Human Rights Day kicks off a year-long campaign to mark the upcoming 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The 2017 theme is ‘Let’s stand up for equality, justice and human dignity’.

Notes:
The two-day Aadivasi Mahotsav has started in Raipur, Chhattisgarh on December 10, 2017 to display the rich and diverse tribal traditions of the central state. It was inaugurated by Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram and Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh. Tribal culture, literature and food festivals, tribal Olympiad and hackathon will be held during the event. The festival has been organised in the memory of 1857 revolutionary from the region, Shaheed Veernarayan Singh on his martyrdom day.