Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2017

Notes:
The 7th edition of the India International Coffee Festival (IICF) will be held in Bengaluru, Karnataka from January 16-19, 2018. It is being organised by the India Coffee Trust and State-run Coffee Board. The purpose of IICF 2018 is to promote the Indian coffees globally and is expected to attract over 100 companies, 600 delegates and some 10,000 visitors.

Notes:
The National Farmer’s Day (NFD), popularly known as Kisan Diwas, is celebrated every year in India on December 23 to acknowledge the role of farmers in India’s socio-economic development and to mark the birth anniversary of 5th Prime Minister Late Chaudhary Charan Singh. He used to be referred to as the ‘champions of India’s peasants’ for his strive for the betterment of farmer’s lives in the country.

Notes:
The Betla National Park (BNP) is located in the Chota Nagpur Plateau of the Latehar district of Jharkhand and covers an area of 226.33 square kilometers. It is home to sloth bear, panther, and wolf, jackal, hyena, etc. The park’s rich bird life features the hornbill, peafowl, red jungle fowl, black partridge, white-necked stork, black ibis, swamp grey, quail, the pied hornbill, etc. The famous Kamaldah lake attracts several varieties of water birds including the common whistling and cotton teal, the knob-billed duck, snipe and geese.

Notes:
India’s first runway on ‘Sea Bridge’ will come up in Lakshadweep because the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has recently got a green nod to extend Lakshadweep’s Agatti Airport. The task will be carried out by building an RCC platform on the beach and shallow area which will allow bigger ATRs to operate on the island. The entire project is likely to cost about Rs 1,500 crore. The move will allow ATR-72 aircraft to land comfortably.

Notes:
The Uttar Pradesh government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with South Korea on December 23, 2017 to enhance cooperation in the field of tourism, skill development, culture and farming. For this, a delegation from Gimhae city of South Korea met chief minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow and discussed ways to improve cooperation between the two countries. Earlier, in year 2000, an agreement was signed to develop Ayodhya and Gimhae as sister cities, following which a memorial was constructed in Ayodhya which is visited by a large number of tourists from South Korea every year. The people in South Korea believe that 2,000 years ago, an Ayodhya princess had married Korean King Kim Suro. At present, their descendants are members of the ‘Crock Clan’.

Notes:
As per recently released report ” 2018 World Economic League Table”, India will overtake the United Kingdom and France in 2018 to become the world’s fifth-largest economy in terms of the United States dollar. The report was published by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), an economics consultancy based in Britain. The report also stated that Asian economies will dominate the list of the top ten largest economies over the next 15 years.

Notes:
The Simbalbara National Park (SNP) is located in the Paonta Valley of Sirmour District, Himachal Pradesh, along its border with Haryana and covers an area of about 27.88 square kilometres. The vegetation consists of dense Salforests with grassy glades. Goral, Sambhar and Chittal are the common animals found here. October and November are the best times to visit the park.

Notes:
The 78th session of the Indian History Congress (IHC) has started at the Jadavpur University campus in Kolkata, West Bengal on December 28, 2017. The 3-day IHC will have six sections this time – Ancient India, Medieval India, Modern India, Countries Other than India, Archaeology and Contemporary India. The aim of conducting Indian History Congress is for promotion and encouragement of the scientific study of Indian History, holding Congresses and publishing of the proceedings, bulletins, memoirs, journals and other works.

Notes:
Sue Grafton (77), an American author of detective novels, has passed away in Santa Barbara, California on December 28, 2017. According to author’s webpage, she started the alphabet novels in 1982. The mystery writer penned best-selling novels with alphabet-based titles, starting with “A Is for Alibi” and ending with “Y Is for Yesterday”. Her last alphabet mystery was published last August. “Z Is for Zero” was tentatively scheduled to come out in 2019.

Notes:
Viswanathan Anand, Indian chess Grand Master and five time World Champion, has won bronze in the 2017 World Blitz Chess Championship at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on December 30 following his gold winning performance in the Rapid section only a couple of days back. World Champion Magnus Carlsen won the tournament scoring 16 points and followed by Sergey Karjakin with 14.5 points out of the maximum possible 21 points.