Test: December 2019 Weekly Current Affair - 1 - Current Affairs MCQ

On December 1, 2019, The 7th edition of India-Sri Lanka joint Military & Army Exercise MITRA SHAKTI–VII: 2019 has started at Aundh Military Station, Pune, Maharashtra with the aim to build and promote positive relations between the armies of India and Sri Lanka. The exercise will be conducted for 14 days upto 14 December 2019& will involve sharing and learning from each others experiences.

As per the Union Minister of Minority Affairs Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, India has become the 1st country where the entire process of Haj 2020 has gone 100% digital after he signed a bilateral agreement for the pilgrimage with the Saudi Haj Minister Dr Mohammad Saleh bin Taher Benten in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on December 1, 2019.

On December 1, 2019, Saudi Arabia became the first country in the Arab world to head G20 (Group of 20) after it took over from Japan. The G20 summit for 2020 will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia under the theme of “Realising Opportunities of the 21st Century for All”, from 21-22 November,2020. It will also focus on three aims namely, empowering people, safeguarding the planet, and shaping new frontiers.

On 2nd December 2019, Masatsugu Asakawa was elected as the 10th President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) by the Board of Governors of the ADB. Asakawa will be assuming office on January 17, 2020, after the resignation of Takehiko Nakao, the current President of ADB. Asakawa will finish the term of Nakao on November 23, 2021. Asakawa is the current Special Advisor to Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister (PM) of Japan and Taro Aso, the Minister of Finance, Japan.

Iraq’s Prime Minister (PM) Abdul Mahdi has resigned from his post after heavy protests. He has taken this decision after more than 40 people were killed by security forces in Baghdad and Iraq’s mainly Shia southern cities of Nasiriya and Najaf in anti-government protests. Iraq’s supreme Shiite religious leader Ali al-Sistani has condemned the use of excessive force against the protesters and called for the formation of a new government. The protesters are demanding jobs, elimination of corruption and civic amenities.

On November 30, 2019 The union sports minister Shri Kiren Rijiju launched the logo, players jersey, mascots and theme song of the 3rd edition of the Khelo India Youth Games(KIYG) at Karmabir Nabin Chandra Bordoloi Indoor Stadium in Guwahati, Assam. The games are scheduled to be held from January 10-22, 2020. Over 10,000 students will be participating in a total of 451 medal events.

The 8th edition of the joint training exercise between India and China named “HAND-IN-HAND 2019” for the year 2019 is to be held in Umroi, Meghalaya from December 7-20, 2019. The aim of this exercise is to practice joint planning and conduct of counter-terrorist operation in the semi-urban terrain. Theme: The theme for the exercise will be ’counter-terrorism under United Nations mandate‘.

The Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi announced to offer $450 million Line of Credit(LoC) to Sri Lanka in which $400 million will be provided for infrastructure projects and $50 million provided for counter terror measures to Sri Lanka.

On December 2, 2019, Asian Development Bank (ADB), a regional development bank has signed $206 million loan agreement with Government of India (GoI) to develop water supply, sewerage infrastructure in 5 cities (Ambur,Tiruchirappalli, Tiruppur, Madurai and Vellore) of Tamil Nadu (TN) and also enhances capacities of urban local bodies (ULBs) for improved service delivery. It was the 2nd project loan for the ADB-assisted $500 million multi-tranche financing for TN Urban Flagship Investment Program, granted in earlier September 2018, that will develop climate-resilient water supply, sewerage, and drainage infrastructure in at least 10 cities in Tamil Nadu.

On December 2, 2019, CRISIL (formerly Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited),a global analytical company providing ratings, and risk and policy advisory services has lowered its estimate of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate to 5.1 % for the current financial year –FY20 (or 2019 ) from an earlier estimate of 6.3 %. Growth in the second half of 2019-20 will go up to 5.5%, up from 4.75% in the first half.

On 2nd December 2019, Prithiviraj Singh Roopun (61) was elected as the President of Mauritius by the Lawmakers of Mauritius. Prithiviraj Roopun was the former Minister of Arts and Culture of Mauritius. He preceded Ammenah Gurib-Fakim who resigned in March 2018. Also, Mr. Marie Cyril Eddy Boissezon appointed as the new Vice-President of the Republic of Mauritius.

On December 2, 2019 the Ballon d’Or awards for the year were announced in Paris, France. Argentina’s professional football player Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini won his record 6th Ballon d’Or award. The award was given after Messi scored 54 times for his Barcelona club and country in 2018-19, in which Barcelona won La Liga title. It is also to be noted that Messi has most no. of Ballon d’Or awards under his name. The Women’s Ballon d’Or award was given to Megan Anna Rapinoe, American football player who led the United States women’s national soccer team to win the 2019 World cup.

The 21st Asian Archery Championship for the year 2019 was held at the Rajamangala National Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand from November 21-28, 2019. India secured second position in the overall medal tally while South Korea topped the list. The third position was obtained by China.

On December 2, 2019,Government of India (GoI) & Portugal has decided to cooperate in the setting up of a India’s 1st National Maritime Heritage Museum at the ancient Indian site of Lothal in Gujarat with the aim to boost the underwater or marine archaeology.The Museum will showcase salvaged material from shipwreck sites in the Indian Ocean waters.

On December 3, 2019 the Mumbai Central station of Western Railways was conferred with the ‘Eat Right Station‘ certification with a 4-star rating by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). With this certification, it became India’s first “Eat right station”. The certification was done as part of the ‘Eat Right India’ movement launched in 2018 by FSSAI.

On December 3, 2019, According to the “Business-to-Consumer (B2C) E-commerce Index 2019” released by UNCTAD’s (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development).For the 2nd consecutive year in a row, the Netherlands leads the Index with the score of 96.4, followed by Switzerland (2nd with 95.5) and Singapore(3rd with 95.1).

On 3rd December 2019, Joaquin Rafael Phoenix, American actor from California, United States (US) has been bestowed with the PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) ‘Person of the Year’ Award 2019. Joaquin Phoenix has been a vegan since the age of three and has been a supporter of PETA for a long time. He has recently appeared in an advertisement of PETA titled “We are all animals”, which was displayed in the Times Square and Sunset billboards to promote the prohibition of travelling wild-animal circuses.

On 3rd December 2019, Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President of India presents Uttar Pradesh (UP) the National award for Excellence for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs,Divyangjan) on behalf of the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The award was received by Mahesh Kumar Gupta, additional Chief Secretary of UP on behalf of the State Government. The event was organized by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disability (DEPwD). UP has received the award for the implementation of Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan, the campaign was launched in the year 2014-2015 to provide attainable physical infrastructure and other communication facilities to PwDs.

On 4th December 2019, Sundar Pichai, current CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Google has been made the CEO of Alphabet, the parent organization of Google, followed by the resignation of Larry Page and Sergey Brin, CEO and President of Alphabet and the founders of Google.Sundar Pichai will now act as the CEO of Google and Alphabet while Larry Page and Sergey Brin will act as the Board members, shareholders and co-founders of Alphabet.

On 3rd December 2019, Antii Rinne, Prime Minister (PM) of Finland resigned after losing support from the coalition partner. Rinne has been heading the Government since June 2019. He handed his resignation to Sauli Vainamo Niinisto, President of Finland.

On December 3, 2019 India has successfully conducted night trial of the indigenously developed nuclear capable Prithvi-2 surface-to-surface missile as part of a user trial for the armed forces from Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in the coast of Odisha. The missile has a strike range of 350 kilometres with warheads carrying capacity of 500-1,000 kilograms.

On December 3, 2019 the Chief Minister of Odisha Shri Naveen Patnaik launched an e-learning mobile phone app named “MadhuApp” for students by providing video lectures and exercise in Odia language prepared by highly qualified educationists and teachers. This is named after freedom fighter social reformer Madhusudan Das.

On December 4, 2019 the prime minister of India Shri Narendra Modi and the president of Maldives Ibrahim Mohamed Solih jointly inaugurated 4 key development projects in Maldives via video conference. India gifted Made in India Coast Guard Ship(CGS) Kaamiyaab, which is a fast interceptor vessel. The CGS Kaamiyaab would help in enhancing the maldives’ maritime security, and also promote blue economy (use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods etc) and tourism. It was handed over to the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF). It was constructed by L&T (Larsen & Toubro) in Gujarat.

Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) has joined hands with UNICEF
( United Nations Children’s Fund ) to launch “YuWaah- (Generation Unlimited India)” with the aim to transform the countries involved into hubs of education, skilling and employment for its more than 300 million young people aged 10-24 years. The new initiative YuWaah (word “Yuva”, in the Hindi language, means young person) promotes the secondary education and training to build the skills young people need for productive lives and work & also boost the number of quality work opportunities available to youth.

On November 28, 2019 the Uttarakhand state forest minister Shri Harak Singh Rawat laid foundation stone of India’s first Ganga centralised aqualab at Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The aqualabs will be set up under the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG). Various aquatic life forms found in the 2525-kilometer-long Ganga river would be preserved in the lab WII.