Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2017

Notes:
The Bandhavgarh National Park (BNP) is located in the Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh and covers an area of 105 square kilometres. The park has one of the highest density of Bengal tigers known in the world, and is home to some famous named tigers which are large in size and are beautiful.

Notes:
The Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate supply of sand for highways construction work on December 13, 2017. The concessionaires working on highways projects have been facing a shortage of sand at many sites. The MoU aims to fill this gap by facilitating the availability of sand for these concessionaires. As per the MoU, business intermediaries will ship and store this sand at various ports in India and market it in India. NHAI will facilitate the process by displaying the availability of sand at various stockyards at the ports. The headquarters of the DCI is located at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

Notes:
The National Energy Conservation Day (NECD) is celebrated every year in India by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), under Ministry of Power, on December 14 with an aim to demonstrate India’s achievements in energy efficiency and conservation, while working for its ambition of holistic development as part of the nation’s overall effort towards climate change mitigation. On the 27th edition of NECD-2017, the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, will give away National Energy Conservation Awards to industries that have demonstrated measurable reductions in their energy use as part of the National Energy Conservation Awards Programme.

Notes:
Nakul Chopra, currently President of AAAI and Senior Advisor at Publicis Communications, has been elected as the new Chairman of Television ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India. He will succeed Sudhanshu Vats, chief executive officer (CEO) at Viacom 18 Media Pvt. Chopra will be the 3rd chairman of the agency and has been on the board of BARC since September 2016. The BARC India is a joint industry body formed to design, commission, supervise and own country’s television audience measurement system.

Notes:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially declared Gabon a “polio-free country” because of lack of new reported or suspected cases in the central African country. Polio is a highly-infectious viral disease which mainly affects young children and can result in permanent paralysis. There is no cure and it can only be prevented through immunization. The cases of polio have decreased by 99% since 1988, when polio was endemic in 125 countries and 350,000 cases were recorded worldwide. Now the disease is endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the WHO recorded four cases this year—two in each country. Last year, there were 37 cases globally.

Notes:
The 56th Liberation Day of Goa was celebrated with great pomp & show in Panaji on December 19, 2017. Several programmes and events have been organised to mark the occasion. The state was liberated on this day in 1961 from Portuguese control after almost 450 years of colonial rule. The armed action “code name – Operation Vijay” was carried out by the Indian Armed Forces in December 1961. The operation involved air, sea and land strikes for over 36 hours, and was a decisive victory for the Republic of India that ended 451 years of rule of Portugal over its remaining exclaves in India. The engagement lasted two days resulting in twenty-two Indians and thirty Portuguese killed in the fighting. The brief conflict drew a mixture of worldwide praise and condemnation.

Notes:
India will host a meeting of WTO member countries in February 2018 to muster support for food security and other issues. This was stated by Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu while speaking at an event organised by Apparel Export Promotion Council, AEPC in New Delhi on December 18, 2017. He further stated that the government is trying to call a meeting of almost 30 to 40 countries in Delhi to help multi-lateral process. India has been keenly pushing agriculture issues at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). It has also been raising its voice against bringing new issues, especially those which are not directly linked to trade, on the negotiating table.

Notes:
India’s top-ranked junior shuttler Aakarshi Kashyap from Bhilai won U-17 and U-19 singles titles at Badminton junior Nationals in Guwahati, Assam on December 18, 2017. In Under-17 category, shei defeated Malvika Bansod in the final. In Under 19 category final, Kashyap beaten Vaidehi Choudhari by 22-20, 21-11.

Notes:
The Southern Command of Indian Army are conducting a major army exercise ‘Hamesha Vijayee-2017’ in the deserts of Rajasthan from December 16 to 22, 2017 to evaluate the capability of the armed forces to strike deep into enemy territory in an integrated air-land battle. The exercise being conducted in battle like conditions, aims at fine tuning surveillance and destruction mechanisms to support precision strikes and manoeuvres by network enabled forces. The Southern Command undertakes such exercises at regular intervals to ensure a high degree of battle readiness as well as validation of operational plans using modern weapons and equipment.

Notes:
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) ) has signed an agreement with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on December 20, 2017 to execute the Swami Samarth Nagar-Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Metro VI corridor. As per the agreement, DMRC will invite bids and assign contracts for execution of civil work and for procurement of systems and services required for the project. The entire 14.5-kilometer long Metro-6 corridor, costing about 5,490-crore rupees will have 13 stations. The project will provide rail based access to areas such as Lokhandwala, SEEPZ and IIT – Bombay. This Metro corridor is expected to carry 6.5 lakh commuters daily in 2021.