December 3, 2017 - Current Affairs Quiz - Current Affairs MCQ

Andhra Pradesh State Assembly unanimously passed A.P. Kapu (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in Services under the State) Bill, which provides 5% reservation in education and employment to Kapu Community in Andhra Pradesh. With this 5% reservation to Kapus, total reservation in Andhra Pradesh has reached 55 per cent, which exceeds the 50 per cent limit restricted by the Supreme Court. Thus the Bill will require Central Government’s approval to include this reservation in Schedule IX of Indian Constitution.

On the occasion of International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu launched Deen Dayal Divyangajan Sahajya Scheme in Guwahati, Assam. Under this scheme, every differently abled person in Assam would be entitled to a one-time grant of Rs 5000 for their treatment. The launch function was attended by Assam Governor, Jagadish Mukhi and Assam Chief Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal. At the launch function, Vice President Naidu praised Assam Government for introducing ‘Pranam Act’ under which, all government employees can make contributions from their salaries for the welfare of elderly and differently abled family members.

Tendu Leaf Bonus Festival was inaugurated in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh. At the inauguration of Tendu Leaf Bonus Festival, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh distributed bonus to the tendu leaf collectors of Bastar and Bijapur. Rs. 247 crore bonus will be distributed during the course of this 10-day Tendu Leaf Bonus Festival. It is to be noted that collecting Tendu Leaves is the primary means of livelihood for a huge population from Bastar to Sarguja of Chhattisgarh.Under the bonus scheme, Chhattisgarh State Government will also provide free clothing and insurance to tendu leaf collectors, and scholarship and healthcare to their children

India’s first Madame Tussauds wax museum was opened at Regal Building, Connaught Place, New Delhi. Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in New Delhi is the 23rd edition of Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. It consists of 50 lifelike figures of personalitiesrelated to history, sports, music, films, and politics. The statues of following personalities are present: Narendra Modi, Sachin Tendulkar, Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Asha Bhosle, Sonu Nigam, Marylin Monroe, Lady Gaga, Will Smith, Justin Beiber, Kim Kardashian, Beyonce Knowles, Kapil Sharma, and APJ Abdul Kalam.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani inaugurated the first phase of strategic Chabahar Port in South-Eastern Iran, on the Gulf of Oman. Minister of State for Shipping, Pon Radhakrishnan represented India at the inauguration function. Iran has invested about one billion dollars in completing the first phase of the Chabahar Port. The first phase has been named Shahid Beheshti port. In 2016, India and Iran had signed a bilateral agreement to refurbish and develop certain parts of Chabahar Port

The word “populism” has been announced as the Cambridge Dictionary 2017 Word of the Year. The word “populism” has been selected based on the criteria that the word should not only be the most searched-for words but is also reflected in spikes. Spikes means occasions when a word is suddenly looked up many more times than usual on or around a particular date. The dictionary defines populism as “political ideas and activities that are intended to get the support of ordinary people by giving them what they want”. The dictionary definition includes the usage label “mainly disapproving”.

India has become the biggest importer of U.S. oil refinery by-product ‘petcoke’, which in 2016 got almost a fourth of all the fuel-grade “petcoke” the U.S. shipped out. Petroleum coke called as ‘petcoke’, a U.S. oil refinery by-product, is cheaper and burns hotter than coal. But it also contains more planet-warming carbon and heart and lung-damaging sulfur. In 2016, the U.S. sent more than 8 million metric tonnes of petcoke to India. That’s about 20 times more than in 2010. The Supreme Court recently banned petcoke use by some industries as of November 1, 2017 in the three states surrounding New Delhi.

Aditya Puri, the Managing Director of HDFC Bank, is the only Indian on Fortune’s ‘Businessperson of the Year 2017’ list. The Businessperson of the Year list is an annual ranking of world’s top 20 heads of companies. At the 18th position, Aditya Puri is the only head of an Indian company on the list. Aditya Puri has been the Managing Director of HDFC Bank since its inception in 1994. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, a Taiwan-born American entrepreneur and businessman, has topped the list. Some others who made it to the list are: Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase, Marc Benioff of Salesforce, Mary Dillion of Ulta Beauty, Francisco D’Souza of Cognizant, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Shantanu Narayen of Adobe Systems.

Jenny Kim is a 24-year-old model from Seoul. She succeeds Srinidhi Shetty of India as Miss Supranational.Tica Martinez of Colombia and Bianca Tirsin of Romania were named the first runner-up and second runner-up respectively. India’s Peden Ongmu Namgyal, reached top 25, but failed to make it to the top 10. Sixty-five contestants competed in this year’s competition. Jenny Kim competed at the Miss Universe 2016 pageant held in Manila, Philippines, where she won as Miss Congeniality.

India’s Ajaita Shah has emerged as the Grand Champion in the catalyst pitch competition held by Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST) on the closing day of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES2017) held in Hyderabad. Ajaita Shah is the founder of a startup named ‘Frontier Markets’. This startup provides last mile distribution solution for energy products based on solar technology that empowers women. As the winner of the catalyst pitch competition, Ajaita Shah received several prizes in kind including $50,000 in Amazon Web Services credits and a Dell laptop computer. Jainesha Sinha, founder of GyanDhan, from India, Vaishali Neotia, founder of Merxius Software, from India and Fiona Edwards Murphy, founder of ApisProtect, from Ireland were the other three finalists of the catalyst pitch competition.

Lieutenant General D R Soni is an Armoured Corps officer of the 1979 batch. Prior to this, he was General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Army Training Command since September 2016. He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, and the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. He was commissioned in the Central India Horse in June 1979. He has done requisite Army courses including the Junior Command, Senior Command and Higher Command Courses.

Sunil Kumar Chourasia, IOFS (Indian Ordnance Factories Service), has been appointed as the new Director General of Ordnance Factories (DGOF) and Chairman of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) with effect from 1st December, 2017. Previously, S K Chourasia was Member of OFB and was in charge of Material & Components division. He joined Indian Ordnance Factories Service in 1981. He was selected to work in Government of India as Deputy Secretary and thereafter Director in Ministry of Defence from 1992 to 1997. He was Chief Vigilance Officer in PSUs from 2002 to 2005.

Preet Didbal was elected to Yuba city council in 2014 and is currently serving as vicemayor. She will be sworn in as mayor on December 5, 2017. Ravi Bhalla is another Sikh Mayor in US. He was elected as mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey in November 2017. The Sutter-Yuba region in California is home to one of the largest Sikh communities in the country. It is estimated that US has around 500000 people who follow the Sikh faith.

On November 27, 2017, Pakistan’s Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Zahid Hamid tendered his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, following protests by hardline religious groups in Pakistan. Mr. Zahid Hamid had brought in a change in the wording of the oath of office. According to certain hardline religious groups in Pakistan, these changes undermined Islamic beliefs and linked it to blasphemy. Protesters took to streets demanding the reversal of these changes and demanding Mr. Hamid’s resignation. During two-day clashes between protesters and security forces in Islamabad and other places in Pakistan, at least six people were killed and hundreds were injured.

A team of Brazilian and Chinese paleontologists have announced the discovery of about 300 fossilised eggs and skeletons of pterosaurs. The fossils, some of them of embryos with the bones preserved in three dimensions, were found in 2015-2016 in the northeastern Chinese region of Hami. They were analysed and described in a joint project by Brazilian and Chinese dinosaur experts.The research was published in the journal Science. Pterosaurs are a group of extinct winged dinosaurs that were the first known vertebrates to be able to fly. Molds and casts of the eggs and the bones found by the team will be on display form 1st December 2017 at the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro.

Cyclone Ockhi, originating near Sri Lanka over the Bay of Bengal, moved over the Arabian sea through Kanyakumari triggering heavy rains and high speed wind in Lakshadweep islands. Due to heavy rains along with strong winds on account of Cyclone Ockhi, several trees got uprooted and communication lines were disrupted in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and islands of Lakshadweep. Many fishermen from Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been reported to be missing. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswami has asked Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to intensify search and rescue operation for the missing fishermen with the help of Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy

Virat Kohli became the first player to score six double centuries as captain. Virat Kohli scored 200 off 238 balls on the second day of the ongoing Test against Sri Lanka at the Ferozshah Kotla stadium. This record of six double centuries is a first as a captain. He has surpassed West Indies’ Brian Lara, who held the record previously with five double tons in Tests. Also Virat Kohli now shares the record of most number (six) of double centuries for Indian in Test cricket with Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. He is also only the second Indian after Vinod Kambli to score backto-back double hundreds.

International Day of Persons with Disabilities was observed all over the world on December 3, 2017. The theme for International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2017 is: “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient society for all”. The annual observance of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities was declared in 1992, by the United Nations General Assembly. This day aims to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society and development, and to increase awareness of the situation of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life.