Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2017

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:
Sushil Kumar, the double Olympic medalist, has defeated New Zealand’s Akash Khullar via a pinfall in the final of the 74kg freestyle category to clinch a gold medal at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships at Johannesburg in South Africa on December 17, 2017. It was Sushil’s first medal in international wrestling since his gold medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. It was double celebration for India as, Parveen Rana also won a bronze medal in the same category.

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.

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.

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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.

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The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently approved the Ministry of Railways’ trans-formative initiative to set up India’s first-ever National Rail and Transport University (NRTU) in Vadodara to skill its human resources and build capability. This innovative idea, inspired by the Prime Minister, will be a catalyst for transformation of rail and transport sector towards New India. The University will be set up as a Deemed to Be University under de novo category as per the UGC [Institutions Deemed to be Universities] Regulations, 2016. Government is working towards completing all approvals by April 2018 and to launch the first academic program in July 2018. A not-for-profit Company under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013 will be created by the Ministry of Railways which shall be the Managing Company of the proposed university.

Notes:
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.

Notes:
Manoj Sinha, the union minister of communications, has launched project “DARPAN – The Digital Advancement of Rural Post Office for A New India” in New Delhi on December 21, 2017. The project has an outlay of Rs 1400 crore and intends to provide a low power technology solution to each Branch Postmaster (BPM). This will enable each of approximately 1.29 lakhs branch post offices to improve service delivery. DARPAN offers core banking services to the account holders. The project will improve the quality of service, add value to services and achieve financial inclusion of un-banked rural population. It is targeted to complete the project by March 2018.

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.

Notes:
M. Subbarayudu, an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of the 1994 batch, has been appointed as the new Ambassador of India to the Republic of Peru. Presently, he is joint secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). He is expected to take up his assignment shortly.