Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2017

Notes:
Eminent Bengali poet Joy Goswami has been chosen for the 31st Moortidevi Award for the year 2017 for his poetry collection titled “Du Dondo Phowara Matro”. It is an autobiographical account of the poet’s life featuring his close ones including a pet cat. The work also echoes secret trysts, chance loves and more of the fantastical quotidian which makes up the poets consciousness. The award consists of a Saraswati Statue, a Citation Plaque and cash award of Rupees 4 lakh. It is first time that this award is given to Bengali poet.

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.

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Project ‘Mausam’ is the initiative of Ministry of Culture to be implemented by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) as the nodal agency with research support of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and National Museum as associate bodies. This project aims to explore the multi-faceted Indian Ocean ‘world’ – collating archaeological and historical research in order to document the diversity of cultural, commercial and religious interactions in the Indian Ocean. The main purpose of the project is to inscribe places and sites identified under Project Mausam as trans-national nomination for inscription on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Till date, 39 countries have been identified under Project Mausam viz. Bahrain, Bangladesh, Iran, Pakistan, Somalia, Turkey, Vietnam, Yemen, UAE, Thailand, South Africa, etc.

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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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The 17th Indian Science Communication Congress (ISCC-2017) has started at Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi on December 21. It is organized by the CSIR-National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR) in collaboration with Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Indian Science Writers’ Association (ISWA), Society for Information Science (SIS), Vigyan Bharati (VIBHA) and Indian Science Communication Society (ISCOS). The purpose of the 2-day ISCC-2017 to engage in narratives around India’s scientific wisdom, assess the current status of communicating India’s scientific wisdom and deliberate the ways and means of communicating India’s scientific wisdom to the global audience. The Focal Theme of the ISCC-2017 is “Communicating India’s Scientific Wisdom: Changing Paradigms”.

Notes:
The National Rice Research Institute (NRRI) is located near Bidyadharpur village on the Cuttack-Paradip Road, Odisha. It is one of the premier national research institutes under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The purpose of the NRRI is to improve the income and quality of life of rice farmers in India. The scientists at NRRI have many research results to their credit in various disciplines of rice research, including: Biochemistry, Blue green algae, Entomology, Food technology, Plant breeding and genetics, Physiology, etc.

Notes:
Shree Saini, who is a student at the University of Washington, has been crowned Miss India USA 2017 at the Royal Alberts Palace in Edison, New Jersey. While Prachi Singh from Connecticut was declared the first runner-up & North Carolina’s Fareena became the second runner-up at the pageant. Shree Saini is an anti-bullying activist. At the beauty pageant, cancer surgeon Kavita Malhotra Pattani from Florida was declared Mrs India USA 2017. Swapna Mannam (17) from New Jersey was crowned with Miss Teen India USA 2017.

Notes:
On December 21, 2017, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the women’s ODI and T20I teams of the year with England’s Heather Knight named as captain of the 50-over side and Stafanie Taylor of the West Indies appointed skipper of the 20-over side. The teams were selected taking into consideration player performances from September 21, 2016 to date. In it, India’s left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht is the lone cricketer to feature in both the ODI and T20 Teams of the year announced by the ICC. Bisht is ranked 14th in ODIs and 12th in T20Is, and took 34 wickets in 19 matches and 11 wickets in seven T20Is in the period under consideration. Indian captain Mithali Raj has been named in the ICC Women’s ODI Cricket Team of the Year. Besides the duo, Harmanpreet Kaur has found out a place in the ICC Women’s T20I Team of the Year.

Notes:
Mamang Dai, Itanagar-based author and journalist, has won the 2017 Sahitya Akademi Award in English language for her 2014 novel “The Black Hill”. The novel gives innate descriptions of the life of the tribal people of north east India from the yester years, interweaving their lives with fiction and history. It is the story of Gimur, a girl from the Abor tribe who runs away with Kajinsha of the Mishmee tribe. Their tale of love is painted with the mid-19th century Northeast India as the background. It had also brought in missionaries, one of them being Father Nicolas Krick, a Jesuit priest who wanted to carry his mission to Tibet. ‘The Black Hill’ is a richly imagined story descriptively created around two recorded historical events – this French priest’s mysterious disappearance and the execution of Kajinsha for his murder. The award in the form of a casket containing an engraved copper-plaque, a shawl and a cheque of Rs 1 lakh will be presented to the author at a special function on February 2018.

Notes:
The 2017 bilateral naval exercise “Naseem-Al-Bahr” (or known as Sea Breeze) has started between Indian Navy and Oman Navy at Said Bin Sultan Naval Base, Wudam on December 17, 2017. The Indian Navy deployed a submarine, P8I long-range maritime aircraft, two naval ships – INS Trikand and INS Teg – for the bilateral exercise. This exercise was the 11th edition and has been a biennial feature since 1993. India has an ancient maritime tradition and maritime interaction with Oman dates back to over 4000 years B.C. The bilateral relation between India and Oman were formally established with signing of a 1953 Indo-Oman Treaty of friendship, Navigation and Commerce, a first between India and an Arab country. Since then, Naval exercises have contributed to strengthening of bilateral ties between India and Sultanate of Oman. The first exercise Indian Navy with Royal Navy of Oman was conducted in 1993 and this year marks 24 years of Indian Navy -Royal Navy of Oman bilateral exercises.