12,December, 2018 Current Affairs - Daily Current Affairs

12,December, 2018 Current Affairs - Daily Current Affairs

1. Who of the following has joined SoftBank as its first venture partner at its $100 billion Vision Fund?

A.            Juanita Remington

B.            Pavithra Gunasekaran

C.            Rashmika Patil

D.            Kirthiga Reddy

Answer: Option D

Explanation:

Kirthiga Reddy, the former managing director of Facebook India, has joined SoftBank as its first venture partner at its $100 billion Vision Fund. She is the first women coming on board in a company where the rest are all men. Reddy was Facebook's first employee in India and served as the managing director for India and South Asia market until 2016, following which she relocated to the company's US headquarters, serving as Managing Global Client Partner and Emerging Markets Lead.

2. Where was the Conference on 'Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code - A New Paradigm for Stressed Assets held?

A.            Mumbai, India

B.            New Delhi, India

C.            New York, United States of America (USA)

D.            London, United Kingdom (UK)

Answer: Option C

Explanation:

A conference on the theme 'Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code of India - New Paradigm for Stressed Assets' was held at the Indian Consulate in New York. The conference was organised by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) jointly with the Consulate General of India, New York, USA. The Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Mr. Arun Jaitley addressed the conference via Video Conferencing. Dr. M. S. Sahoo, Chairperson, IBBI also addressed at the function. The Conference was followed by a roundtable with prospective stakeholders of the Indian insolvency regime which witnessed participation of many international fund houses and law firms.

3. Reserve Bank of India has imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on this bank for violating cybersecurity norms.

A.            Karur Vysya Bank

B.            Bank of Baroda

C.            Indian Bank

D.            Yes Bank

Answer: Option C

Explanation:

The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on Indian Bank for violating cybersecurity norms. The contravention is with regard to RBI's directions on Frauds - Classification and Reporting by Commercial Banks.

4. Who became the youngest and the fifth Indian to win the Asian Tour Order of Merit in golf?

A.            Shubhankar Sharma

B.            Anirban Lahiri

C.            Shiv Kapoor

D.            Jeev Milkha Singh

Answer: Option A

Explanation:

Shubhankar Sharma became the youngest and the fifth Indian to win Asian Tour Order of Merit in golf. The Indian won it even before the finish of the last two events of the year. Before Sharma, Jyoti Randhawa (2002), Arjun Atwal (2003), Jeev Milkha Singh (2006 and 2008) and Anirban Lahiri (2015) had achieved the feat. With the win, Shubhankar Sharma also captured the Asian Tour Habitat for Humanity Standings title after a ground breaking year of achievements. The 22 years old Sharma's Order of Merit win was confirmed after he managed to secure total prize money of $755,994 on the Asian Tour for 2018. He will be officially crowned as Asian Tour's No. 1 during the BNI Indonesia Masters competition scheduled next week in Jakarta, Indonesia. Shubhankar Sharma was also honoured with the Arjuna Award 2018, which was presented to him by the President of India.

5. According to the Yahoo Year in Review list, Who has retained the position of top newsmaker in India in the year 2018?

A.            Virat Kohli

B.            Narendra Modi

C.            Anushka Sharma

D.            Rahul Gandhi

Answer: Option B

Explanation:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was once again the top newsmaker in India in the year 2018, according to the Yahoo Year in Review list. Modi has featured at the top of the list for at least a couple of years now and is followed this year by Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Former Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra wrote his way into the list with third position after landmark verdicts on triple talaq and Article 377.

6. Who was appointed as additional director on the board of Axis Bank?

A.            Suraj Prasad

B.            Tapas Jain

C.            Shiv Kumar Kandala

D.            Amitabh Chaudhry

Answer: Option D

Explanation:

Axis Bank inducted Amitabh Chaudhry as additional director on its board. He will replace incumbent Shikha Sharma whose fourth term has been curtailed by the RBI by nearly two-and-half years. The board also gave its nod for the reappointment of Samir Barua, Som Mittal and Rohit Bhagat as independent directors. Amitabh Chaudhry, the former MD and CEO of HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company, was in September named the MD and CEO of Axis Bank for a period of three years, with effect from January 1, 2019.

7. India's first Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence was opened in __________.

A.            Pune

B.            Kolkata

C.            Mumbai

D.            New Delhi

Answer: Option D

Explanation:

India's first Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence established by the European Union was inaugurated at the Department of European Studies (DES) at Manipal Academy of Higher Education in New Delhi by Ambassador of the European Union (EU) to India and Bhutan, Tomasz Kozlowski. The award comes with a grant of 1,00,000 Euros to pursue India-EU interdisciplinary studies in culture, literature, education and society. This is the fifth time that MAHE has been awarded grants under the Erasmus+ Jean Monnet initiative.

8. Which country became the world's leading exporter of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) for the first time?

A.            Australia

B.            Norway

C.            Canada

D.            Russia

Answer: Option A

Explanation:

Australia surpassed Qatar to become the world's leading exporter of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) for the first time. This was announced according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics which stated that Australia had exported 6.55 million tonnes of LNG in November 2018 compared to Qatar's 6.27 million tonnes. LNG is Australia's third-largest export commodity behind coal and iron ore.

9. Scientists from which country developed a "rewritable" paper?

A.            Germany

B.            India

C.            China

D.            USA

Answer: Option C

Explanation:

Scientists from the Fujian Normal University in China developed a "rewritable" paper that can be drawn or printed on over and over again by changing the temperature. The new material consisted of three layers in a sandwich-like structure where the text could be changed or wiped clean over 100 times by changing the temperature. According to a study published in the journal ACS Applied Material & Interfaces, the messages can last more than half a year, compared to other re-writable papers. It can be used in practical applications such as long-lasting information recording and reading, rewritable label, reprintable display.

10. Asian Development Bank signed an Loan Agreement for $31 million to build-up the State Tourism Industry of this state recently.

A.            Tamil Nadu

B.            Kerala

C.            Andra Pradeh

D.            Madhya Pradesh

Answer: Option A

Explanation:

The Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed in New Delhi a Loan Agreement for $31 million to build-up the State Tourism Industry and boost visitor arrivals in Tamil Nadu. The signatories to the tranche 4 loan for Infrastructure Development Investment Program for Tourism (IDIPT) were Mr. Sameer Kumar Khare, Additional Secretary (Fund Bank and ADB), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, who signed for the Government of India, and Mr. Kenichi Yokoyama, Country Director for ADB in India, who signed for ADB.

11. The world's largest Arabic audio library launched in __________.

A.            Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

B.            Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

C.            Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

D.            Muscat, Oman

Answer: Option B

Explanation:

Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, launched the Dubai Audio Library, the largest Arabic audio library in the world, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The library, targets seven million visually impaired people in the Arab world, and is an initiative undertaken by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) of Dubai in collaboration with the website Bookshare.org. The first book uploaded to the Dubai Audio Library, Zayed Diwan, is a collection of 87 poems written by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. The library will provide 300,000 books in Arabic and more than 10,000 volunteers will convert Arabic books into digital format and edit them before uploading them to the website.

12. Whom has been honoured with the title "Meethoileima" by the Manipur Government?

A.            Anjali Bhagwat

B.            Mary Kom

C.            Sania Mirza

D.            P. V. Sindhu

Answer: Option B

Explanation:

Manipur Government honored AIBA World Women Boxing Gold medalist MC Mary Kom with the title "Meethoileima" (par excellent queen) at a function in Imphal, Manipur. On the occasion, State Chief Minister N. Biren Singh handed over a cheque of ten lakh rupees to her. The Chief Minister also declared that the Imphal West DC Road towards Game Village will be named as MC Mary Kom Road.

13. Who of the following was the new governor of RBI?

A.            Rajiv Mehrishi

B.            Pramod Kumar Misra

C.            Shaktikanta Das

D.            Nripendra Misra

Answer: Option C

Explanation:

The government has appointed Shaktikanta Das as the new RBI governor, a day after Urjit Patel resigned as RBI Governor. He is the 25th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. A former economic affairs secretary from 2015 to 2017, Das worked closely with the central bank. He is currently a member of the Finance Commission of India, and the government's representative at the Group of 20 summits.

14. Who of the following was the first-ever recipient of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Coach of the Year Award?

A.            Sascha Bajin

B.            Nicole Pratt

C.            Mary Joe Fernandez

D.            Martina Navratilova

Answer: Option A

Explanation:

Sascha Bajin, coach of the world number five Naomi Osaka, has become the first-ever recipient of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Coach of the Year Award. WTA Coach of the Year Award is given to the coach with not only success on-court, but also who serves as an ambassador of the sport and brings coaching to the forefront of the game.

15. Which country become a permanent member of Financial Action Task Force?

A.            Fiji

B.            Chile

C.            Belgium

D.            Israel

Answer: Option D

Explanation:

Israel became a full member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international body set up to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other threats to the international financial system. The Jewish state has now taken its place alongside 37 other members including most of the G20, the world's 20 leading industrialized and emerging economies just 16 years after being blacklisted by the organization.

16. Who presented the lifetime achievement award at the Trinity Arts Festival in Chennai?

A.            Sundaram Iyengar

B.            T T Srinivasaraghavan

C.            Rohit Bakshi

D.            Kiran Rao

Answer: Option B

Explanation:

Sundaram Finance Managing Director T T Srinivasaraghavan was presented the lifetime achievement award at the Trinity Arts Festival in Chennai. The award was presented by publisher and former Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, and the Press Trust of India, Chairman, N Ravi. He was awarded for his leadership qualities that made Sundaram Finance as one of India's most trusted non-banking finance companies. Over the last 13 years, he has been organising mikeless kutcheries for children aged below 15 years which got him an entry into the Limca Book of Records for the longest open air kutcheri in the country.

17. Name the Union Minister who launched a National Challenge for Youths, "Ideate for India - Creative Solutions using Technology", in New Delhi.

A.            Suresh Prabhu

B.            Narendra Singh Tomar

C.            Ravi Shankar Prasad

D.            Manoj Sinha

Answer: Option C

Explanation:

Union Minister for Electronics & IT, Law & Justice, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, launched a National Challenge for Youths,"Ideate for India - Creative Solutions using Technology", in New Delhi. The Challenge has been designed and launched by: The National e-Governance Division, Ministry of Electronics & IT in collaboration with Intel India, with support from the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L), Ministry of Human Resource Development. The DoSE&L will propagate the challenge to State Education Departments, NVS, KVS and CBSE authorities. The National Challenge will be open to at least 1 million students of classes 6 - 12 all across the country - all 29 States and 7 Union Territories over the next 3 months ending in March 2019.

18. ENSURE - National Livestock Mission was launched by the ministry of;

A.            Ministry of Agriculture

B.            Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

C.            Ministry of Home Affairs

D.            Minister of Commerce and Industry

Answer: Option A

Explanation:

Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Radha Mohan Singh launched a portal 'ENSURE'- National Livestock Mission-EDEG developed by NABARD and operated under the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries. The NABARD has developed an online portal "ENSURE" (ensure.nabard.org) so that the information related to beneficiary and processing of the application can be made readily available