Monthly Current Affair MCQ: December 2023 - 1 - CLAT MCQ

SEBI proposed changes in the regulatory framework for Special Situation Funds to facilitate the acquisition of stressed loans. Special Situation Funds (SSFs) are sub-category of Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs).
Sebi suggested a definition of ‘special situation assets’, eligibility of investors in SSFs in terms of Insolvency law, among others. The proposals have been floated after consultations with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which is the principal regulator for the sale and purchase of stressed loans in India.

New Zealand’s new government will scrap the country’s world-leading law to ban smoking for future generations to help pay for tax cuts.
In 2022 the country passed pioneering legislation which introduced a steadily rising smoking age to stop those born after January 2009 from ever being able to legally buy cigarettes. The law was designed to prevent thousands of smoking-related deaths and save the health system billions of dollars.

World AIDS Day is observed on December 1st every year. The theme for 2023 is “Let Communities Lead”. This theme highlights the importance of communities in the HIV response and the goal of ending AIDS by 2030. World AIDS Day is an international day that raises awareness of the AIDS pandemic and mourns those who have died from the disease. It also celebrates victories, such as increased access to treatment and prevention services.

India’s Aditya L1 satellite has begun unravelling solar wind enigmas as two cutting-edge particle spectrometers commenced data gathering in recent months. The SWIS and STEPS instruments on the Aditya Solar Wind Particle Experiment payload have detected protons, Helium ions and energy histograms exhibiting solar wind behavior fluctuations near Sun-Earth Lagrange Point L1.
SWIS’ 360-degree coverage and directional monitoring capacities will significantly further comprehension of solar wind properties, variability and links to space weather influencing Earth. Researchers eagerly anticipate more revelations to address enduring questions about the complex solar wind and corona heating as Aditya L1 nears L1 orbital point for uninterrupted solar observation.

Brazil’s President Lula da Silva has clarified that Brazil is seeking OPEC+ membership to convince member nations to move away from fossil fuels, not to cap its own oil output. Lula said Brazil aims to persuade major oil producers to invest profits into renewable energy development assistance for poorer regions like Africa and Latin America instead.
Brazil seeks a leadership role in rallying OPEC+ oil economies to finance global south’s green transition through proceeds earned from essentially the last fossil fuel boom before inevitable decline. Joining the 23-member group controlling 40% of world’s oil reserves aligns with Lula’s climate justice advocacy, with rainforests protection another priority. Hence Brazil is eyeing OPEC+ as platform for climate action cooperation.

The Indian Railways launched an AI-based surveillance system to prevent elephant deaths on railway tracks. ‘Gajraj System’ will be installed on 700 kilometres of route passing through forest areas.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said forest areas in Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Kerala, Jharkhand and some parts of Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu which are home to elephants, are identified. The technology, which was created by the railroads in association with a few start-ups, was implemented on a 150-kilometer section of Assam last year.

The United Nations released the latest draft of a global climate agreement which presented three options to tackle fossil fuels which ranged from phasing them out to not talking about it at all.
The first proposes an ‘orderly and just phase out of fossil fuels’ stance and one seen as essential by low-lying island nations at threat from rising seas. The second calls for faster efforts to phase out projects that lack the means to capture and store emissions, and to “rapidly” reduce fossil fuel use to achieve carbon neutrality in global energy production by 2050.The third option contained in the 24-page draft is “no text” at all, a position supported by oil giant Saudi Arabia and China.

Ministry of Commerce and Industry released the revised draft Rubber (Promotion and Development) Bill, 2023, to reconstitute the Rubber Board.
On a direction by the government, the Rubber Board is scheduled to hold three open house sessions, to discuss the revised draft. An earlier Bill introduced by the Union Government—Rubber (Promotion and Development) Bill, 2022, which sought to repeal the Rubber Act of 1947—had ignited widespread protests among rubber farmers.

The draft text on the Santiago Network has been adopted by the Parties and sent to the Conference of the Parties and Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement.
The collaborative framework aims to connect vulnerable developing countries with technical support and resources to effectively address and manage loss and damage caused by climate change. The waste sector has seen the launch of LOW Methane, an initiative to drastically amplify global action to reduce methane emissions from the waste. It aims to deliver at least one million tonnes of annual waste sector methane reductions well before 2030.

Santiniketan, the university town in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, was recently inscribed on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
A Centre-approved board identifying Santiniketan as UNESCO-approved world heritage site has finally been erected by Visva-Bharati in the location and mentions Rabindranath Tagore. Santiniketan – founded by Debendranath Tagore and home to Visva-Bharati, the university set up by his son Rabindranath – was accorded world heritage status by UNESCO, and shortly after that plaques had come up marking the site and they bore the names of only Chancellor Narendra Modi and the then Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty.

According to media reports, around 1,000 migrating birds died in Chicago after colliding with illuminated buildings. This incident raised concerns about how ‘stopover’ cities are increasingly becoming less hospitable for migrating birds. The study reveals that finding a hospitable stopover is essential for mass bird migration to happen.
Light pollution doesn’t negatively impact birds only but also humans. It can disrupt humans’ circadian rhythms, leading to health problems, including depression, insomnia, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide are killed annually by malaria and other diseases spread through the bite of mosquitoes, insects that date back to the age of dinosaurs. All of these bites are inflicted by females, which possess specialized mouth anatomy that their male counterparts lack.
Researchers said they have discovered the oldest-known fossils of mosquitoes – two males entombed in pieces of amber dating to 130 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period and found near the town of Hammana in Lebanon. The male mosquitoes possessed elongated piercing-sucking mouthparts seen now only in females. They are identified as hematophagous meaning blood-eaters.

The Umrah is an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca that can be undertaken at any time of the year. Saudi Arabia has introduced a 96-hour stopover visa for Indians traveling to the West or the Middle East.
This initiative is a part of the Saudi Vision 2030 to streamline Umrah visits. The Umrah Visa, valid for 90 days, enables holders to reside and travel within Saudi Arabia, ensuring an efficient and convenient pilgrimage experience.

RBI decided to regulate entities facilitating payment and settlement for online cross border export / import transactions as Payment Aggregators – Cross Border (PA-CB) under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act.
Non-banks providing PA-CB services should have a minimum networth of Rs 15 crore at the time of submitting application to the RBI for authorisation and a minimum networth of Rs 25 crore by March 31, 2026. New non-bank PA-CBs should have a minimum networth of Rs 15 crore at the time of submitting application to the RBI for authorisation and should attain a minimum networth of Rs 25 crore by end of the third financial year of grant of authorisation. RBI said the maximum value per unit of goods or services sold should be Rs 25,00,000.

Kotak Mahindra Bank has launched a global service account (GSA) to address the banking needs of companies in the service export sector.
The account includes advisory services on forex markets and trends for a competitive edge. Clients will also have access to trade experts and digital solutions for expert trade insights and innovative digital solutions. They can also access business financing up to Rs 2 crore for on-time salaries, vendor payments or other short-term requirements. The bank said that the sector export sector contributes to 40% of total exports in India and grew at 26.8% in FY23 to $323 billion.

Santiniketan, the university town in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, was recently inscribed on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
A Centre-approved board identifying Santiniketan as UNESCO-approved world heritage site has finally been erected by Visva-Bharati in the location and mentions Rabindranath Tagore. Santiniketan – founded by Debendranath Tagore and home to Visva-Bharati, the university set up by his son Rabindranath – was accorded world heritage status by UNESCO, and shortly after that plaques had come up marking the site and they bore the names of only Chancellor Narendra Modi and the then Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty.

The death toll from a volcano eruption in Indonesia has risen to 23 after 10 more bodies were discovered.
Mount Marapi on the island of Sumatra spewed an ash tower 9,800 feet into the sky. About 75 climbers who had started their way up the mountain and stranded, and about 52 of them were rescued after the initial eruption, while 11 more were initially confirmed dead. New eruptions spewed additional columns of hot ash into the air, reducing visibility and temporarily halting the search and recovery operations.

Indian National Congress’ Anumula Revanth Reddy took oath as Chief Minister of the southern Indian state of Telangana.
This marked the first time the youngest state has got a chief minister from the grand old party of India. Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu took oath as the deputy Chief minister of the state. The state of Telangana was carved out from Andhra Pradesh in the year 2014.

Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) issued a drug safety alert for the commonly used painkiller mefenamic acid.
The mefenamic acid painkiller named Meftal is prescribed in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, dysmenorrhoea, mild to moderate pain, inflammation, fever and dental pain.

Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha after an Ethics Committee report recommending her expulsion from the parliament was tabled.
The report called the act of sharing Lok Sabha login credentials by the TMC Member of Parliament with another person ‘Unethical Conduct’ and ‘Contempt of the House’. Moitra still has the option of challenging the Lok Sabha expulsion in the Supreme Court of India.

Vishnu Deo Sai is the second tribal leader from Chhattisgarh after Ajit Jogi to be appointed as the state’s Chief Minister. He is a five-time MLA from the Kunkuri constituency in Jashpur district, which has a large tribal population. Known for keeping a low profile, Sai has risen from the grassroots, starting as a panchayat member. His administrative experience, clean image and deep connections with local communities seemed to have tilted the scales in his favour for the CM post. His elevation is significant for tribal politics in the state. It fulfils BJP’s promise of rotating the CM post between tribal and non-tribal leaders, made after the death of BJP’s influential tribal face Dr. Raman Singh.

The Defence Cyber Agency is the Indian military’s dedicated three-service cyber command. Headquartered in New Delhi and headed by a two-star military officer, the DCyA is tasked with handling cybersecurity threats to India. It brings together cyber expertise from the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force through their respective Cyber Emergency Response Teams that were set up in 2021. The DCyA aims to unify cyber capabilities across India’s military branches to strengthen national security, especially to defend against cyber attacks from adversaries like China.

Professor Savita Ladage from Mumbai’s Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, has been awarded the prestigious Royal Society of Chemistry’s Nyholm Prize for Education in recognition of her outstanding contributions to chemistry education. Professor Ladage’s tireless advocacy for the significance of chemical education and her role in mentoring educators and spearheading impactful programs have significantly enhanced chemistry education in India. The Nyholm Prize places her among past winners who have later received Nobel Prizes, highlighting the esteemed nature of this accolade. In addition to the honor, Professor Ladage will receive £5,000, a medal, and a certificate as part of the prize. She expressed gratitude for the recognition and vowed to continue her work with greater zeal and enthusiasm. The Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry emphasized the importance of educators like Professor Ladage in shaping the future and preparing young minds for the challenges and opportunities in society. The Nyholm Prize is part of the RSC’s celebration of educational excellence, acknowledging individuals working across various levels of education.

The International Day of Neutrality, observed annually on December 12, is a day designated by the United Nations to promote neutrality among nations worldwide. The concept of neutrality in international relations refers to the abstention of a state from all participation in a war between other states, the maintenance of an attitude of impartiality toward the belligerents, and the recognition by the belligerents of this abstention and impartiality.
The day was officially proclaimed in 2017 by a United Nations General Assembly resolution.

Kashi Tamil Sangamam is an initiative by the Ministry of Education, government of India aimed at celebrating the civilizational connect between Kashi (Varanasi) and Tamil Nadu. Being held from December 17-31 this year, it involves cultural groups from Tamil Nadu showcasing various art forms in Kashi. The objectives are to revive ancient bonds between the two knowledge and cultural centres, and provide a platform for exchange of literature, philosophy, spirituality, music, dance and more. 27 shops showcasing special products of both regions have also been set up.