Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2017

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:
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:
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.

Notes:
Mehuli Ghosh and Tushar Mane became the first Indian shooters to secure the women’s and men’s quota places for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) by winning a gold and bronze each at the 10th Asian Championship 10M Rifle/Pistol at Wako City, Japan on December 9, 2017. Ghosh struck gold to bag one out of three quota places up for grabs in women’s 10m Air Rifle Youth, while Mane settled for a bronze medal to secure one out of four quota places available in the men’s 10m Air Rifle Youth. Apart from booking two quota places at YOG, India bagged a total of three gold and three bronze to add to their five medals won on the first day of the competitions.

Notes:
Alappuzha, the coastal town of Kerala, has been recognised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as one of the five models across the world for fighting the pollution menace. It has been reconized for its decentralised waste management system. Alappuzha, often called “the Venice of East”, has been listed in the UNEP environment report entitled, ‘Solid approach to waste: how five cities are beating pollution’ alongside cities like Osaka in Japan, Ljubljana in Slovenia, Penang in Malaysia and Cajica in Colombia.

Notes:
The UN Women in collaboration with Facebook launched ‘We The Women’ event in Mumbai, Maharashtra on December 9, 2017 to empower and recognize the magnificent contribution of women in our society. It was a two-day participatory, open-to-all forum for women offering a ‘Break Free’ 48 hours to bring together diverse viewpoints, challenges, concerns and a celebration of everything that women have achieved. It’s annual space giving women a platform to voice their unfettered expressions, forging bonds, great conversation and a wide community of friends.

Notes:
India has been declared free from infective trachoma, a contagious bacterial infection of the eye common among children. It causes inflamed granulation on the inner surface of the lids. Recently, the Union Health Minister J P Nadda released the National Trachoma Survey Report (2014-17) in New Delhi. The survey results indicate that active Trachoma is no longer a public health problem in the country. Trachoma is common in children till nine years of age. It is caused by the bacterial agent chlamydia trachomatis and usually spread due to flies, poor hygiene, crowded places, lack of water, and environmental factors such as humidity.

Notes:
According to ‘World Economic Situation and Prospects 2018’ report, India’s GDP growth is projected to accelerate from 6.7% in 2017 to 7.2% in 2018 and 7.4% in 2019 on the back of strong private consumption, public investment and the ongoing structural reforms. The report, which was unveiled by United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), stated that overall, economic outlook for South Asia is seen largely favourable and steady for the short term, notwithstanding significant medium-term challenges. On India, the UN DESA report has projected a positive outlook despite the slowdown early this year and the lingering effects of demonetisation.

Notes:
Uma Shankar has been appointed as the new Executive Director of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). She has been elevated after Meena Hemchandra the executive director in charge of the central bank’s supervision department retired at the end of November. Currently, RBI has 11 EDs and each of them supervises the 34 departments headed by CGMs at the central bank. Prior to this post, Shankar was the chief general manager in charge of RBI’s financial inclusion & development department.