December 16, 2017 - Current Affairs Quiz - Current Affairs MCQ

Union Cabinet has approved the continuation of the current Non Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) scheme for North Eastern India. NLCPR is a Central Government scheme aimed at speedy development of India’s North Eastern Region by providing budgetary resource for executing social and physical infrastructure projects. The latest continuation has been approved till March, 2020 so that the ongoing projects can be completed. NLCPR is being administered with financial outlay of Rs.5300 crore. Union Cabinet has also approved the introduction of ‘North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme’ (NESIDS) from 2017-18. NESIDS will be a Central Sector Scheme with 100% funding from the Central Government. It will be initiated to plug gaps in infrastructure development in specified sectors till March, 2020.

Union Cabinet approved the draft National Medical Commission Bill, which seeks to replace Medical Council of India (MCI) with a new body, to ensure transparency. Medical Council of India (MCI), the regulator of medical education in India, has long been criticised for corruption, lack of accountability and unethical practices. The move to set up National Medical Commission is based on recommendations of the Ranjit Roy Chaudhury Committee and a Parliamentary standing committee. Union Law and Justice Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad has stated that National Medical Council Bill will be tabled in Parliament in the current session. If passed by the parliament, it would replace the Medical Council Act of 1956.

Meghalaya Chief Minister, Mukul Sangma launched ‘The Meghalaya Community Participation and Public Services Social Audit Act, 2017’. Meghalaya has thus become first state in India to operationalise a law that integrates social audit of government programmes and schemes as part of government practice. ‘The Meghalaya Community Participation and Public Services Social Audit Act, 2017’ was passed in April 2017. It will be applicable to 11 departments and 21 schemes administered by Meghalaya State Government. Social audit not only enables to bring in corrections in the ongoing schemes but also gives people a direct say in how the money allocated should be spent.

India and Maldives commenced their 8th joint military exercise “EKUVERIN” in Belagavi, Karnataka. In Maldivian language, ‘EKUVERIN’ means friends. Objective of this exercise is to familiarise both armies with each other’s operating methodology in context of counter-terrorist operations in an urban or semi-urban region. Participants from both the sides will get an opportunity to hone their tactical and technical skills and also to activate the Joint Operations Centre at Belagavi. Last edition of Indo-Maldives ‘EKUVERIN’ was held in December 2016 at Kaddhoo in the Lammu Atoll, Maldives.

Vice President M.Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the five-day World Telugu Conference (WTC) hosted by Telangana, at Lal Bahadur Stadium, in Hyderabad. Governors E.S.L.Narasimhan (Telangana and AP) and Vidyasagar Rao (Maharashtra) were the guests of honour. The World Telugu Conference (WTC) is a festival of Telugu language and culture. Nearly 8,000 delegates and representatives have registered to attend the World Telugu Conference. Discussions and talks on Telugu literature and culture are held with stalls set up to showcase the history of Telangana, its literature, handicrafts, temples and coins. President Ram Nath Kovind would be the chief guest at the valedictory function on December 19, 2017.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) imposed a complete ban on plastic items like carry bags, plates and cutlery in towns located on the banks of the River Ganga like Haridwar and Rishikesh. A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar also banned the sale, manufacture and storage of such items till Uttarkashi. The Green Tribunal also imposed Rs 5,000 fine on those violating the order and said action will be taken against erring officials too.

The Nagaland Assembly passed a resolution unanimously revoking the provisions of 33 per cent reservation for women in urban local bodies. Nagaland Legislative Assembly has adopted a resolution to revoke its earlier resolution of 2012, paving way to implement 33% women reservation in municipalities. The Assembly also passed the Lok Ayukta bill. It also passed a resolution on Nagaland political issue. Nagaland Essential Services (Maintenance) Act 1978 (First Amendment) Bill 2017 was also passed by voice vote.

President Ram Nath Kovind, laid the foundation stone of the NYAYA GRAM project of the High Court of Allahabad, in Allahabad. NYAYA GRAM is a model township of the Allahabad High Court. The state government has nominated the Public Works Department, Uttar Pradesh, as the construction agency for the project. Rs 395.10 crore has been sanctioned for the project. Out of which Rs 62 crore has been released as the first instalment. In the second phase, the plan is for construction of 33 bungalows for the judges and 66 flats for staff.

‘Dubai Camel Hospital’, world’s first of its kind hospital for camels, opened in Dubai in last week. This hospital has been built at a cost of $10.9 million and has state-of-the-art medical equipments. Dubai Camel Hospital has a team of international veterinarians and can treat 20 camels at a time. It will also play a role in research and development of camel medicines. It is to be noted that Camels are an important part of United Arab Emirates (UAE’s) heritage. Camel races and camel beauty pageants are popular recreation activities for people of UAE. Besides, specific Camels fetch millions of dollars at auctions.

The Cabinet approved an amendment to a current law to allow for payment of an interim compensation in cheque dishonour cases with a view not to allow unscrupulous elements holding payments. Amendment to the Negotiable Instrument Act will allow a court to order for payment of an interim compensation to those whose cheques have bounced due to dishonouring parties. If the drawer is acquitted, the court may direct the payee to repay the amount paid as interim compensation with interest. Similarly, appellate courts would be enabled to order the appellant to deposit a part of the compensation awarded by the trial court at the time of filing appeal. A payee of a dishonoured cheque has to spend considerable time and resources in court proceedings to realise money due to him.

Union Cabinet decided to waive the merchant discount rate (MDR) applicable on all debit cards, Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) and Unified Payment Interface (UPI) transactions up to Rs 2000. Fee charged to a merchant by a bank for providing debit and credit card payment services is referred to as merchant discount rate (MDR). The decision to waive the MDR on all debit cards, BHIM and UPI transactions has been taken to boost number of digital payments which have been stagnant in recent times. This waiver has been given for 2 years with effect from January 1, 2018. The amount waived, will be reimbursed to the banks by the Government. The value of waiver has been estimated at Rs.1050 crore for financial year 2018-19 and Rs.1462 crore for financial year 2019-20.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 60 MW Tuirial hydropower project in Aizawl, Mizoram. Tuirial hydropower project is the first large hydropower project in Mizoram and is expected to boost the socio-economic development of the state. The project was first cleared in 1998, by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Utility of this project will not be limited to power generation. Water stored in reservoir (spread over an area of 45 square km) will provide connectivity to remote villages and will also be used for development of fisheries. The project has been built on Tuirial River. It is a central sector project, built at a cost of Rs 1302 crore. It was executed by North Eastern Electric Power Corporation( NEEPCO) under Union Ministry of Power.

Roger Federer has been voted BBC overseas sports personality of the year for a record fourth time. He is 36 years old. This season he has won two Grand Slam titles and ranked world number two behind his rival Rafael Nadal. He previously won the award in 2004, 2006 and 2007. Muhammad Ali and Usain Bolt have each won it three times. Roger Federer and the other award winners will be honoured during Sunday’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony in Liverpool.

R Hemalatha has been appointed the new Director of National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad. R Hemalatha is a medical graduate from Gandhi Medical College, Hyderabad. She is a highly accomplished scientist and has vast experience in the field of maternal and child health, clinical and population-based studies. She has served as secretary of the Nutrition Society of India. She is a fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences and a fellow of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences.

State Bank of India said the Carlyle Group has completed the acquisition of GE Capital’s entire 26 per cent stake in SBI Card. SBI Card is operated through two joint ventures – SBI Cards & Payment Services and GE Capital Business Process Management Services. GE Capital Business Process Management Services issues credit cards and processes card transactions. With this SBI owns 74 per cent and Carlyle holds 26 per cent in each of the two entities. GE Capital has been the joint venture partner since the beginning with SBI Card that began 19 years ago. GE Capital exited SBI Card as part of its global strategy to exit the financial services sector announced two years ago.

SpaceX has launched a used spacecraft with a used rocket for the first time ever. SpaceX has launched 2 pre-flown rocket parts together for the first time, a used Dragon spacecraft riding on top of a used Falcon 9 rocket. The used Dragon spacecraft is on its way to the International Space Station. It’s carrying 4,800 pounds of supplies for astronauts.

Google announced the shutting down of its high-end smartphone Augmented Reality (AR) platform, Tango. Google wants to shift focus to its mass market product, ARCore. Tango support will stop on March 1, 2018. Tango was introduced in 2014. It relied on advanced camera hardware to build 3D meshes of spaces in a manner which was similar to the way HoloLens from Microsoft functions. It was difficult for Google to get phone manufacturers to build this fairly expensive functionality into their products, and it only succeeded in getting the Tango platform running on a few devices.

NASA revealed the discovery of Kepler-90i planet using a Google neural network trained to identify planets from the NASA Kepler space telescope’s data. Kepler-90i is the eighth planet discovered in the Kepler-90 system. Kepler-90 is a sun-like star located around 2,545 light-years from us. NASA’s Kepler was launched in 2009 on a mission to seek out exoplanets and it has since gathered evidence of planets that may be able to host alien life. So far, scientists have confirmed around 2,500 exoplanets, with 30 of those potentially being Earth-like planets located within their stars’ habitable zones where liquid water could exist.

The emblems of the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, respectively named “Winter Dream” and “Flight,” were unveiled at the National Aquatic Center, Beijing, China. The Olympic emblem is originated from the Chinese character “dong” (winter). At the top of the emblem is a skater rushing forward, while at the bottom is a skier. The dynamic lines in the middle represent mountains, trails in the snow seen during winter sports and the silk ribbons which are often used when Chinese people celebrate the Lunar New Year, which will overlap with Beijing 2022. The Paralympic emblem oriented around the Chinese character “fei” (flight). The emblem is an abstract image of an athlete who is fighting for victory, highlighting the spirit of and inspiration for the Paralympic Winter Games. The chief designer of the two emblems is Lin Cunzhen, deputy dean of China Central Academy of Fine Arts Design School.

The first ever International Wheelchair Cricket Tournament was organised in Kathmandu, Nepal. The International Wheelchair Cricket Tournament has participation of teams from Nepal, India and Bangladesh. Bangladesh is supported by the Sushil Koirala Memorial Foundation and technical assistance from the Kathmandu Cricket Training Center. The Wheel Chair competition concluded on 16th December 2017. The final match was between Nepal and Bangladesh.

Vikas Khanna launched his coffee table book “Poeatry” at the Times Litfest in Mumbai. The book Poeatry is a collection of over 100 poems related to food and life. It introduces Vikas Khanna as a poet. It is conceptualised and designed by Kumar Chiplunkar and his team at Chap & Chapette, a design house based in New Delhi. Chap & Chapette specialises in design for luxury, coffee table books and other designs.

Vijay Diwas is commemorated every 16 December in India. It marks India’s military victory over Pakistan in 1971 during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, in alliance with Bangladesh. India and Bangladesh, since then, celebrate Vijay Diwas, also known as Victory day, every year to mark both the countries’ military victory over Pakistan. On this day, citizens, senior officials, students & war veterans lay wreaths and remember the sacrifices of the soldiers.