Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2017

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 Karnataka government will soon launch a digital platform “Seva Sindhu” to address the issues of the common citizens in order to strengthen the ecosystem for government services. For this, the state cabinet has ratified the proposal of “Seva Sindhu. The interactive platform would provide all useful information about local events, employment opportunities, and others. The portal will provide services like income, domicile, caste, birth, death certificates, ration card, approval of social welfare schemes and other administrative work.

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The 4th India-Australia-Japan Trilateral Dialogue was hosted by Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the Foreign Secretary of India, with Secretary of Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia Frances Adamson and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Shinsuke J. Sugiyama, in New Delhi on December 13, 2017. The three sides highlighted the growing convergence of their respective countries’ interests in the Indo-Pacific region and underscored their shared commitment to peace, democracy, economic growth and a rules-based order in the region. They underscored their support for ASEAN centrality in the political and security architecture of the Indo-Pacific region. They also renewed their resolve to fight the scourge of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and stressed the need for enhanced cooperation on counter-terrorism.

Notes:
Jitesh Singh Deo from Lucknow has won the title of Peter England Mr India 2017 at the Bandra Fort in Mumbai, Maharashtra on December 14, 2017. Now, he will represent India in Mr World for 2020. Following him, Indian footballer Prathamesh Maulingkar won the title of Peter England Mr. India Supranational 2017 and will compete at Mr. Supranational 2018. Abhi Khajuria and Pavan Rao won the titles of Peter England Mr. India 1st Runner-Up and Peter England Mr. India 2nd Runner-Up, respectively.

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:
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:
G. Satheesh Reddy, the scientific adviser to Raksha Mantri and Director General of Missiles and Strategic Systems, has been conferred with the prestigious National Design Award. He has bagged this award for his significant national contribution towards indigenous design and development of diversified missile systems, guided weapons, avionics technologies and for his sustained efforts leading to the advancement of aerospace technologies and industries in India.He is known for being a navigation expert and is the only scientist from India holding the distinction of being inducted as Fellow of Royal Institute of Navigation, London and Royal Aeronautical Society, UK.

Notes:
The festival of Losar has started in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir on December 19, 2017 to mark the Tibetan New Year. The celebrations will continue for 3 to 9 days in different parts of Ladakh. The fest is regarded as the most important socio-religious event in Ladakh. Because of several ancient ritual performances and traditional events during the celebrations, it has now turned into one of major events for visitors in winter. It is celebrated by making symbolic meals and offerings. Houses are decorated with good luck signs. Prayer flags are hoisted in important religious places to welcome the new year. Thus, Losar Festival is an important festival in winter months.

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The Adichunchanagiri Wildlife Sanctuary (AWS) is located in Mandya district of Karnataka and covers an area of over 0.88 square kilometres. This was created mainly for the conservation of peacocks. It also houses nearly 250 species of birds

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Delhi has been ranked 7th in most expensive office locations list in the world, according to latest JLL India Report 2017. According to a study by JLL, Delhi’s rents are more expensive than San Francisco, Dubai and Washington DC whereas Mumbai at 16th position scores higher than Los Angeles, Singapore and Paris. The findings reveal that the most expensive premium office rent in the world is in Hong Kong, followed by London, New York, Beijing and Tokyo.