Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2017

Notes:
Norway has become the first country in the world to shut down national broadcasts of its Frequency Modulation (FM) network by completing its transition to digital radio. The transition, which began on January 2017, allows for better sound quality and more channels and functions at an eighth of the cost of FM radio. The digital switchover means that only the country’s local radio stations continue to use FM frequencies. Other countries, including Switzerland, Britain and Denmark, are due to follow suit in the coming years.

Notes:
India will host the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) at Mumbai in June 25-26, 2018. The theme of the meeting will be ‘Mobilizing Finance for Infrastructure: Innovation and Collaboration. For this, the MoU was signed by joint secretary (multilateral institutions division) in the Ministry of Finance Sameer Kumar Khare on behalf of the government of India and AIIB’s vice- president and corporate secretary Danny Alexander. The AIIB is a multilateral development bank with a mission to improve social and economic outcomes in Asia and beyond. It’s headquarters is located in Beijing, China.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will formally dedicate the Tuirial Hydro Electric Power Project (HEPP) in Mizoram to the nation on December 16, 2017. On this occasion, the Prime Minister will also launch ‘MyDoNER App’ and will distribute cheques to start-up entrepreneurs in Aizawl. The 60MW Tuirial HEPP has been constructed as a Central Sector Project and implemented by North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO), under the administrative control of the Union power ministry. The project has been built at a cost of Rs 1,302 crore. It is the biggest power project in Mizoram and will feed the entire energy to be generated to the state, which will help it achieve the Centre’s ambitious and flagship Mission ’24×7 Affordable Clean Power for All’. The State’s current demand of electricity is 87 MW and this is being met by the mini power projects and availability of its share of power from central sector projects.

Notes:
The Rajbari National Park (RNP) is located in the Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary of Tripura,and covers an area of about 31.63 square kilometres.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has recently approved the establishment of International Training Centre for Operational Oceanography, as a Category-2 Centre (C2C) of UNESCO, in Hyderabad. The purpose of this Agreement is to establish a training centre towards development of capacity for the countries on the Indian Ocean Rim (IOR), African countries bordering the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, small island countries under the framework of UNESCO. The operational oceanography is an activity of conducting systematic oceanographic studies towards providing information services to various sectors viz. fisherman, disaster management, shipping, ports, coastal states, navy, coast guard, environment, offshore industries for conducting their day-to- day operations.

Notes:
The 8th edition of bilateral military exercise “EKUVERIN 2017” has started between India and Maldives from December 15 in Belagavi, Karnataka. It is a 14-day joint military training between the Indian Army and the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), which is held alternatively in India and Maldives since 2009. ‘Ekuverin’ means ‘friends’ in the Maldivian language. The focus of the exercise is to acquaint both armies with each other’s operating procedures in the backdrop of a counter-insurgency or counter-terrorist operations in an urban or semi-urban environment under the United Nations (UN) Charter, with an overall aim to enhance interoperability between the two armies. The 7th edition of the exercise was held at Kadhdhoo, Lammu Atoll, Maldives in December, 2016.

Notes:
The headquarters of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is located in New Delhi. It is in news because the first national-level Training of Trainers programme for Sendai Framework will be organise by NDMA in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction-Global Education and Training Institute (UNISDR-GETI) from December 18-20, 2017. The 3-day programme will sensitise various Central Ministries and Departments on utilisation of Sendai Monitor for developing action plans for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR), 2015-2030, is the first major agreement of the post-2015 development agenda and identifies targets and priority actions towards reducing disaster risks and implementing development that is both resilient and sustainable. India, being a signatory to the SFDRR, is committed to work towards achieving the targets enshrined in the Framework.

Notes:
The Andhra Pradesh government has signed an agreement with Alphabet InC.’s X to bring the Free Space Optical Communication (FSOC) technology in the state. The purpose of the FSOC is to provide internet through the government Fiber grid project. By using FSOC technology, the state will be able to use better bandwidth data to every house hold including houses in the tribal belt. This association with X labs to implement FSOC in AP is first of its kind in the world to provide wireless internet connection at a higher speed of up to 20Gbps and to a distance of up to 20kms. This significant partnership will offer a major boost to the state’s digital infrastructure and help overcome hindrances in terms of connecting isolated and difficult terrain, forest areas, river crossings, railway crossings, etc.

Notes:
Olympic silver medalist P V Sindhu has won silver medal at the 2017 women’s singles Dubai World Badminton Super Series tournament. She suffered a heart-wrenching defeat against World No. 2 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan to finish as runner-up at the final of Super Series on December 17, 2017. Sindhu had won two super series titles at India Open and Korea Open, besides reaching the finals at Hong Kong Open and World Championship this year.

Notes:
The Samsung India has signed pact with UNESCO MGIEP (Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development) to launch 360 video and virtual reality (VR) content of two magnificent Indian heritage sites – the Sun Temple in Konark, Odisha and Taj Mahal in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. The project will provide experiential educational content to students across the country. The immersive content will also be available to students at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV), where Samsung Smart Classes have been set up in over 500 schools since 2013. The content on Indian heritage sites will be available freely across all social media channels in both 360 and VR formats. VR content will also be provided to the Union Ministry of Tourism and State Tourism Boards to be used for tourism promotion in India and across the world. There are 36 UNESCO heritage sites in India at present.