Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2017

Notes:
Sir Mohamed Muktar Jama “Mo” Farah, who is Britain’s most successful-ever distance runner, has won the 2017 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. Farah, a four-time Olympic champion, has won his third successive world 10,000m gold medal in London in August 2017. He is the first athlete to win ten global outdoor long-distance titles on the track and the first Briton to win outdoor titles in four World Championships (both consecutively and outright). With this award, he became the first long-distance runner to win the Sports Personality award since Paula Radcliffe in 2002.

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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.

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.

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The Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has signed an agreement with Maruti Suzuki Ltd to impart training to youth and enhance their employment potential. The Flexi MoU was signed by Vijay Kumar Dev, Director General, DGT (MSDE) and Mukesh Kumar Gupta, Vice President (Maruti Suzuki India Limited) in New Delhi on Dec 18, 2017. As part of the agreement, Maruti Suzuki in consultation with Directorate General of Training (DGT) will develop specific training modules as per need of the automobile industry. The company shall conduct courses at pan-India locations leveraging the facilities and services available at ITIs, regional training centers, training centers of training partners, vendors and dealers associated with Maruti Suzuki. The courses include Manufacturing, Automotive Service & Repair, Automotive Body Repair and Automotive Paint Repair.

Notes:
The Assam government has become the 6th state in the country to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Isha Foundation to conserve and rejuvenate the rivers of Assam. Isha Foundation is a non-profit making and spiritual organisation—the Isha foundation. Its founder Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev’s nationwide ‘Rally for Rivers’ campaign is an initiative for revitalizing India’s rivers.

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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:
Justice Umesh Dattatraya Salvi has been appointed acting chairperson of National Green Tribunal (NGT) following the superannuation of Justice Swatanter Kumar. He will hold the post till a new Chairperson is appointed or till his superannuation, whichever is earlier. During Justice Kumar tenure as NGT chief, he passed several landmark orders and judgements. These include the ban on 10- year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles, the slew of directions for rejuvenation of the Ganga and Yamuna, the demolition of illegal hotels in Himachal Pradesh and the ban on plastic items in Delhi, Haridwar and Punjab. His recent order capping the number of pilgrims at Vaishno Devi to 50,000 per day and his direction to maintain silence at Amarnath invited ire from various quarters.

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India’s Raghu Prasad and Javed Shaikh have recently named in the panel of umpires for the 2018 Hockey World Cup to be held in Bhubaneswar. On December 21, 2017, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced that 25 officials representing 19 countries from all five continents will officiate at this prestigious event taking place at the Kalinga Stadium from November 28 to December 16, 2018. As was the case with the Vitality Hockey Women’s World Cup London 2018 appointments, both men and women will undertake officiating roles at this event, further enhancing FIH’s drive to enhance gender parity across all areas of the sport.

Notes:
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 Birmingham city has been officially selected to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games on December 21, 2017. This will be the third Commonwealth Games to be hosted in England following London 1934 and Manchester 2002. The international multi-sports event are expected to take place between 27 July and 7 August 2022.The 2022 Commonwealth Games were originally given to Durban in 2015, but the South African city was stripped of the event this year because of financial difficulties.