December 2, 2017 - Current Affairs Quiz - Current Affairs MCQ

22nd meeting of Board of Management (BOM) of Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC) was held in New Delhi. This meeting was chaired by Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, Radha Mohan Singh. During this meeting, Mr. Singh was briefed about ongoing activities of SFAC. Mr. Singh was also brief about SFAC’s new initiatives such as Advance Training Programme for Board of Directors and CEOs of Farmer Producer Company (FPC), Fertilizer Dealership for the FPCs and Promotion of Fish Farmers Producer Organizations (FFPO).

India signed a technical cooperation agreement with ADIF (Spanish state-owned company) for construction of the three Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridors. The three RRTS corridors for which the technical cooperation agreement has been signed are Delhi-Meerut, Delhi-Panipat and Delhi-Alwar. This agreement was signed between Miguel Nieto Menor, Director General of ADIF and Vinay Kumar Singh, Managing Director of National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC).

Chhattisgarh government has passed an order regarding a ban on the use of firecrackers during winter in six major cities Raipur, Bilaspur, Durg, Bhilai, Raigarh and Korba. State Environment Ministry and the Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board had passed the order and it will be came to effect from December 1 to January 31. This ban will be planned in force during this period every year.

Five-day dance festival has started near the world famous Sun Temple of Konark in Bhubaneswar,Odisha. It started with Odissi recital by the dancers of Nupur Dance Academy of Bhubaneswar under the tutelage of Niranjan Rout and group. Coinciding with the dance extravaganza, an International Sand Art Festival also opened at Chandrabhaga beach in Konark. Eight globally acclaimed sand sculptors and 62 national artists are exhibiting their works in the festival. Konark Dance Festival is a five day dance festival in the month of December 1 to 5 held every year in backdrop of the Sun temple in Konark, Odisha in India. It is one of the biggest dance festivals held in India

Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Industry and Commerce, will be the chief guest for the Shared Value Summit 2017 on the theme “Equity and Empowerment”. This summit was organized by Shared Value Initiative India, Institute for Competitiveness (India), and SoulAce & India Council on Competitiveness in association with BusinessLine. Inclusive Business List and Emerging Social Enterprise List for the year 2017 was unveiled by Minister of Industry and Commerce.

India was re-elected to Council of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) under category B. In Council of IMO, Category B represents developing countries and those member countries with the largest interests in international sea borne trade. Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Y K Sinha represented India at the election which was conducted at IMO headquarters in London.

Philippines Government suspended its dengue vaccination programme, after Dengvaxia vaccine’s producer, French pharmaceutical giant, Sanofi Pasteurrevealed that the vaccine could prove harmful in certain cases. Dengvaxia is world’s first dengue vaccine. On November 29, 2017, Sanofi announced that Dengvaxia could lead to more severe symptoms in those who had not previously been infected. In 2016, Philippines became the first country to start using Dengvaxia on a mass scale. So far, it has already vaccinated more than 700000 children. However, Philippine government has yet not received reports of any problems from those vaccinated with Dengvaxia.

Indian engineers have launched a major road project in South Sudan to improve connectivity between two major cities of South Sudan. The project is to repair and rehabilitate the Malakal-Melut road. On completion, it will not only improve accessibility for local motorists but will also facilitate UN humanitarian operations for helping vulnerable people. It will also provide a boost to trade and business activities between these two important towns of South Sudan. The project is being implemented by Indian engineers serving with the United Nations Mission (UNMISS).

Coal, Curde Oil, Natural Gas, Refinery Products, Fertilizers, Steel, Cement and Electricity are the eight core industries of Indian economy. Combined index of eight core industries rose 4.7 per cent in October 2017. The growth was primarily on the back of higher refinery and coal production. Coal production increased by 3.9 per cent while crude oil refinery production grew by 7.5 per cent in October 2017

India’s Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) has been awarded the Certificate of Commendation for its effort to combat illegal wildlife trade. The award was given on November 30, 2017, by the Secretary-General of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora at Geneva, Switzerland. Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, a statutory multi-disciplinary body under Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has been entrusted with the responsibility to combat organized wildlife crime in India. WCCB has been specifically praised for ‘Operation Save Kurma’ to combat illegal trade in live turtles and its parts from India to abroad.

Raj Shah, 33 who holds a key position in the White House, has briefed reporters on board presidential Air Force One, becoming the first Indian-American to enjoy the privilege. Mr. Shah was accompanying Mr. Trump as he flew to Missouri to deliver a major speech on middle-class tax relief and business tax relief. Gaggle is the term used for informal briefing by the White House Press Secretary, which is on the record but bars reporters from videographing.

D K Sarraf has been appointed as Chairperson in the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB). He was a former Chairman and Managing Director of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). Former Director (Operations), Oil India Ltd, S Rath, has also been appointed as a Member in the board, after replacing K K Jha. Ex-Member, Cyber Appellate Tribunal. S S Chahar too has been appointed as Member (Legal) in the board. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) was constituted under The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board Act, 2006 (NO. 19 OF 2006).

Infosys Salil Parekh as Chief Executive Officer effective from January 2, 2018. Mr. U B Pravin Rao will step down as the interim CEO and Managing Director effective January 2, 2018 and will continue as Chief Operating Officer and a whole-time Director of the Company. Parekh was a member of the Group Executive Board at French IT services company Capgemini. He has Master of Engineering degrees in Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University and a Bachelor of Technology degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

A Former journalist and author Surya Prakash has been appointed as the Chairman of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati Board for a second consecutive term till February 2020. He has previously worked as the editor of Zee News, executive editor of The Pioneer newspaper, India editor of Asia Times (a business and political daily published from Bangkok and Singapore), political editor of the Eenadu Group of newspapers and chief of bureau at The Indian Express in New Delhi.

Anshu Prakash, a senior bureaucrat has been appointed as Delhi’s new chief secretary. He is a 1986 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre. Before moving to the centre, Mr. Prakash served as Principal Secretary (Health) and the Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) during Sheila Dikshit’s tenure as Delhi Chief Minister.

US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has stated that a set of thrusters aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft have been successfully fired up after 37 years without use. The need for firing these backup thrusters arose as attitude control thrusters that turn the spacecraft by firing tiny puffs had degraded and antenna which allows spacecraft to continue sending communications were not appropriately pointed towards Earth. With successful firing up of these thrusters, NASA will now be able to extend the life of the Voyager 1 spacecraft by two to three years. NASA will most likely conduct similar test on the backup thrusters for Voyager 2 also. Voyager 2 is twin spacecraft of Voyager 1. Just like Voyager 1, Voyager 2 will also enter interstellar space within next few years.

India’s veteran Winter Olympian Shiva Keshavan won a gold medal at the Asian Luge Championships with a time of 55.60 seconds at Altenberg, Germany. Lien Te-An of Taiwan (56.12 seconds) and Kim Dong Kyu of Korea (56.50 seconds) bagged the silver and bronze medals respectively. Asian Luge Cup is annual luge competition for Asian countries, which held since 1998. There are men’s and women’s single events and men’s double event. All editions of Asian Luge Cup held by Spiral bobsleigh luge, and skeleton track at Nagano, Japan. But due to technical reasons, the Asian Luge Championships took place at Altenberg in Germany.

Indian female weightlifter, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu became the first Indian in over two decades to win a gold medal at the World Weightlifting Championship in Anaheim, USA. At the World Weightlifting Championship in Anaheim, USA, Chanu competed in women’s 48kg. She won the gold medal by lifting 85kg in snatch and 109kg in clean and jerk to total 194kg. This has also become a new national record. With her lift of 85kg, Chani came second in snatch. However, she came first in clean & jerk and in overall total. She competed against 20 other lifters. Chanu hails from Manipur State and is currently employed with the Indian Railways.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the men’s Hockey World League Final. Eight teams Argentina, Australia, Belgium, England, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and hosts India — nations all inside the top 10 of the FIH rankings- are participating in the tournament. The tournament will continue till December 10. Winning the event will guarantee qualification for the Men’s Champions Trophy 2018 taking place in the Netherlands in June/July followed by the men’s Hockey World Cup next year in November/December in Bhubaneswar

Indian archers bagged three gold, four silver and two bronze medals at the Asian Championships. Abhishek Verma hold three medals .He grabbed gold beating Korean Jongho Kim 147-147 in the final. He was also part of the men’s team and mixed team which secured silver medals. Indian women’s compound team of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Trisha Deb and Parveena beat So Chaewon, Choi Bomin and Song Yun Soo 230-227 to win the gold medal. Surekha also bagged the individual women’s bronze medal.

Former Chief Justice of India (CJI), Adarsh Sein Anand passed away on December 1, 2017 after prolonged illness. He was 81 years old. He was the 29th Chief Justice of India and served from October 10, 1998 to October 31, 2001. Born in 1936, Adarsh Sein Anand had done his education from Jammu and Kashmir. In 1976, he became a permanent judge of the Jammu and Kashmir high court. Before his elevation as the judge, he had also practised as a lawyer at Chandigarh. He had also served in the Madras high court before his elevation to Supreme Court

Veteran lyricist Gulzar has written English novel ‘Two’ which examines the status of refugees after the Partition.’Two’ published by HarperCollins India, was originally written in Urdu, Gulzar’s medium of writing. It included many words and phrases in Punjabi, Saraiki and other dialects spoken in that area of Punjab which became Pakistan after Partition

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery is celebrated across the world on 2nd December every year. This day is celebrated on 2nd December as it was on December 2, 1949, that United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. International Day for the Abolition of Slavery was first celebrated in 1986. Celebration of this day focuses on eradicating modern forms of slavery, such as trafficking in persons, child labour, sexual exploitation, forced marriage, forced recruitment of children to fight in armed conflicts

The 2nd of December is observed as World Computer Literacy Day. The first World Computer Literacy Day was held in the year 2001. This day aims to increase awareness of this ‘divide’ and increase access to information technology for disadvantaged communities.

Defence Ministry launched the Armed Forces Week from 1st to 7th of this month. She also initiated contribute towards welfare of war-widows, children of martyrs and exservicemen by visiting http://ksb.gov.in. Mrs Sitharaman . Defence Ministry launch a campaign to spread awareness about the valour of armed forces.The main objective of the campaign is to get people to make financial contributions to the Armed Forces Flag Day Fund (AFFD) which is used for the welfare of disabled ex-servicemen, war widows, and children of martyrs. In support of the country’s Armed Forces and their families, Ola, the transportation app, launched an awareness campaign to raise funds on the occasion of Armed Forces Flag Day, observed on December 7 every year.