Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2017

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:
The Uttar Pradesh government has recently launched a free household power connection scheme ‘Prakash hai to vikas hai’ for the poor in the state to mark former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birthday. Initially, the two village Lohban and Gausana of Mathura district have been covered for 100% electrification. Under this scheme, the state government has a target of covering 16 million by the end of 2018. Apart from this, the UP government has also introduced Kisan Uday Yojana, scheme for farmers in which existing 5 HP/7.5 HP submersible and coupling sets of farmers will be replaced free of cost. The scheme, which would cover 10 lakh farmers by 2022, would lead to 35% saving on power consumption.

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:
Ramendra Kumar, the renowned Indian author, an inspirational speaker and storyteller, has been felicitated by the Writers and Publishers of Sri Lanka in Colombo for his contribution to children’s literature. His stories feature in Sri Lankan text books. Kumar is an award-winning writer with 32 books to his credit. His writings have been translated into 14 Indian and 13 foreign languages and have found a place in school text books and anthology also in India and abroad. His book “Dilemma and other stories” , translated into Sinhala, was also released at the felicitation ceremony. This is his fourth book in Sinhala. Since 2011, Ramendra’s stories have been included in school text books brought out by the Sri Lanka government every year. The books are distributed to over 10,000 schools across the country.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR) is an autonomous organization engaged in agricultural research related to spices in India. The institute has its headquarters in Kozhikode, Kerala and is a subsidiary of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR-New Delhi), under the Ministry of Agriculture.

Notes:
Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma has been named PETA’s Person of the Year 2017 for her efforts to help protect dogs from fireworks. She was also against the use of horses to pull carriages in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It was given by animal rights organisation People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Notes:
Experienced shooter Anisa Sayyed from Haryana has won the women’s 25m pistol gold with a new record at the 61st National Shooting Championship Competitions ( NSCC-2017) at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala on December 27, 2017.

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:
Pluto Exchange will launch the India’s first bitcoin trading app for transacting in virtual currencies. The Pluto Exchange mobile app offers a solution to the coordination problem between payment processors, financial gateways and banks. Pluto Exchange will enable transactions using mobile numbers only. With this, by using a four-digit personal identification number (PIN), users can now buy, sell, store and spend bitcoins via a mobile number. The app would permit a range of transactions, including payments, remittances, business-to-business commerce, supply chain finance, asset management and trading.

Notes:
The 25th edition of National Children Science Congress (NCSC-2017) has started at Science city in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on December 27. The five-day Children Science Congress has been organized by Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. The theme of the Congress is ‘Science and Innovation for Sustainable Development’ with the special focus on persons with disabilities. 900 young scientists from 30 states are participating in 25th National Children Science Congress. This year, 50 children and teachers from Asian nations have also participated in the event. Apart from science exhibition, various activities such as hands-on demonstrations, presentations by children scientists, poster session and cultural programmes have also been organized in the science congress. The NCSC is an ideal and innovative programme for children to inspire, empower and expand their minds to world.