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Current Affairs Quiz: December 31 2018

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AffairsCloud brings you the complete and important daily Current Affairs December 31 2018 Quiz to achieve more marks in Banking, Insurance, UPSC, SSC, CLAT, Railways and all other competitive Exams. We have prepared the current affairs quiz from our current affairs today updates.

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  1. Which was the first state to adopt the Mahila Police Volunteer Scheme (MPVs) which aims to engage MPVs as a link between police and community and help women in distress?
    1) Maharashtra
    2) Haryana
    3) Madhya Pradesh
    4) Kerala
    5) None of these
    Answer – 2) Haryana
    Explanation:
    On 28th December 2018, the Ministry of Women and Child Development in collaboration with the Ministry of Home Affairshas approved the proposals of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh for implementation of Mahila Police Volunteer Scheme (MPVs). The scheme envisages the engagement of Mahila Police Volunteers (MPVs) as a link between police and community and help women in distress with one MPV engaged per Gram Panchayat across the country. Under the scheme, the Mahila Police volunteer is required to mobilize community to form Mahila and Shishu Rakshak Dals (MASRD) to act as community watch groups. The MPV would be given a monthly honorarium of Rs 1,000. The first state to adopt the initiative was Haryana in which the scheme was started at Karnal and Mahindergarh District on a pilot basis under Nirbhaya Fund during the financial year 2016-2017.

  2. India will provide grant assistance of _____ rupees towards Bhutan’s 12th Five Year Plan, and a transitional Trade Support Facility of INR 400 Crore over a period of 5 years to strengthen bilateral trade and economic linkages, as announced on 27th December 2018?
    1) INR 2500 Crore
    2) INR 3000 Crore
    3) INR 4000 Crore
    4) INR 4500 Crore
    5) None of these
    Answer – 4) INR 4500 Crore
    Explanation:
    On December 29, 2018, Prime Minister of Bhutan, His Excellency Lyonchhen Dr. Lotay Tshering concluded his 3-day visit to India. His visit commenced from December 27, 2018. On December 27, 2018, a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bhutanese counterpart Lotay Tshering was held in New Delhi. Government of India’s development assistance package for Bhutan’s 12th Five Year Plan for the period 1 November 2018 to 31 October 2023. Under this, India will provide grant assistance of INR 4500 Crore towards Bhutan’s 12th Five Year Plan, and a transitional Trade Support Facility of INR 400 Crore over a period of five years to strengthen bilateral trade and economic linkages.

  3. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched pension management software SAMPANN for pensioners of telecom department, on 29th December 2018 in Varanasi. Expand SAMPANN?
    1) System for Authority and Management of Pension
    2) System for Automated Management of Pension
    3) Scheme for All-India Management of Pension
    4) Systematic Allocation of Monthly Pension
    5) None of these
    Answer -1) System for Authority and Management of Pension
    Explanation:
    On December 29, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Varanasi and Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh for one day. In Varanasi, he launched the System for Authority and Management of Pension (SAMPANN) software which is developed to ease the problems of pensioners.

  4. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that a ground station will be developed in which country by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to reap the benefits of the South Asian Satellite, on 27th December 2018?
    1) Myanmar
    2) Bhutan
    3) Sri Lanka
    4) Bangladesh
    5) None of these
    Answer – 2) Bhutan
    Explanation:
    On December 29, 2018, Prime Minister of Bhutan, His Excellency Lyonchhen Dr. Lotay Tshering concluded his 3-day visit to India. His visit commenced from December 27, 2018. On December 27, 2018, a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bhutanese counterpart Lotay Tshering was held in New Delhi. Both parties discussed space science as a new area of cooperation between the two countries. Under this, a ground station will be developed in Bhutan by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to reap the benefits of the South Asian Satellite.

  5. Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the One District, One Product Regional Summit held in _____ on 29thDecember 2018?
    1) Ghaziabad
    2) Varanasi
    3) Kanpur
    4) Lucknow
    5) None of these
    Answer – 2) Varanasi
    Explanation:
    On December 29, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Varanasi and Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh for one day. He attended the One District, One Product Regional Summit at Deendayal Hastakala Sankul in Varanasi. Here he laid foundation stone for 14new development projects worth around 98 crores. Also, in the event, loans worth Rs. 2000 crore were disbursed.

  6. Name the Rajbhar community icon on whom Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a commemorative postage stamp on 29th December 2018, in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh?
    1) Maharaja Suheldev
    2) Rajnath Sachdeva
    3) Maharaj Phogat
    4) Virendra Seghal
    5) None of these
    Answer – 1) Maharaja Suheldev
    Explanation:
    On December 29, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Varanasi and Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh for one day. In Ghazipur, He released a commemorative postage stamp on Rajbharcommunity icon Maharaja Suheldev. He also laid the foundation stone of a Medical College in Ghazipur. At a cost of around Rs 250 crore, the district Hospital of Ghazipur will have 300 beds after the college is ready. He announced that Poorvanchal will be made a medical hub, and a centre for research in agriculture.

  7. Where did Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicate the 6th International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) South Asia Regional Centre campus to the nation, on 29th December 2018?
    1) Mumbai
    2) Varanasi
    3) Guwahati
    4) Kolkata
    5) None of these
    Answer – 2) Varanasi
    Explanation:
    On December 29, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Varanasi and Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh for one day. He dedicated the 6th International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) South Asia Regional Centre campus in Varanasi to the nation. It will serve as a hub for rice research and training in South Asia and SAARC region.

  8. Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar said that the Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR) of Public sector bank has gone up from 46.04 % as of March 2015 to what percent, as of September 2018?
    1) 66.85 %
    2) 54.78 %
    3) 23.45 %
    4) 78.65 %
    5) None of these
    Answer – 1) 66.85 %
    Explanation:
    The financial Services Secretary, Rajiv Kumar said that the Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR) of Public sector bank has gone up from 46.04 per cent as of March 2015 to 66.85 per cent as of September 2018, reflecting improvement in their financial health. The provision coverage ratio (PCR) gives an indication of the provision made against bad loans from the profit generated. Higher the PCR, lower is the unexposed part of the bad debts. He also said that Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of public sector banks (PSBs) have declined by Rs 23,860 crore in the first half of the current financial year from a peak of Rs 9.62 lakh crore in March 2018. The consistent rise in PCR also indicates the adoption of discipline for making adequate provisions for NPAs besides giving banks cushion to absorb losses. The decrease in PCR has been achieved while being compliant with capital requirement norms.

  9. Government has decided to infuse ____ rupees in Bank of India as part of Rs 28,615 crore capital infusion to be done in nearly six public sector banks?
    1) Rs 10,086 crore
    2) Rs 5,789 crore
    3) Rs 12,789 crore
    4) Rs 9,890 crore
    5) None of these
    Answer – 1) Rs 10,086 crore
    Explanation:
    On 26th December 2018, the state-owned Bank of India said that the government has decided to infuse Rs 10,086 crore in the bank as part of Rs 28,615 crore capital infusion to be done in about half a dozen public sector lenders. The capital infusion in the Bank of India’s equity will be done by way of preferential allotment of shares. The government has decided to pump Rs 28,615 crore into seven public sector banks (PSBs) through recapitalisation bonds in order to enhance the lending capacity of PSBs and help them come out of the Reserve Bank of India’s Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework. Currently there are 11 PSBs under the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework that restricts them from lending to high credit risk categories, in turn preventing the growth of their loan books. Earlier the government had announced an infusion of Rs 65,000 crore in PSBs in 2018-19, of which Rs 23,000 crore has already been disbursed, while Rs 42,000 crore is remaining. Besides this the government would put an additional Rs 41,000 crore in PSBs over and above what was announced earlier and on December 20, the government sought Parliament’s approval for infusion of an additional Rs 41,000 crore.

  10. Banks recovered _____ rupees worth of bad loans in the fiscal ended March 2018, as per RBI (Reserve Bank of India) report titled ‘Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2017-18’?
    1) Rs 40,400 crore
    2) Rs 38,500 crore
    3) Rs 45,700 crore
    4) Rs 53,800 crore
    5) None of these
    Answer – 1) Rs 40,400 crore
    Explanation:
    On December 28, 2018, according to RBI report titled ‘Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2017-18’, banks have recovered stressed assets helped by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and amendments in the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interests (SARFAESI) Act. In the fiscal ended March 2018, banks recovered Rs 40,400 crore worth of bad loans as against Rs 38,500 crore recovered in FY17. The recovery was possible through various channels of: Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), SARFAESI Act, debt recovery tribunals (DRTs) and Lok Adalats. The breakdown of the recovery via these channels are as follows: through IBC: Rs 4,900 crore, through SARFAESI: Rs 26,500 crore in FY18. The most recovery was by the amended SARFAESI Act, which states that: A provision of three months’ imprisonment will be imposed in case the borrower does not provide asset details and the lender would get possession of the mortgaged property within 30 days.

  11. Which state government has succeeded in increasing the state revenue generation in the past 2 years with a record revenue collection of Rs 1598.49 crore during 2017-18 which is a new high in the last 30 years?
    1) Himachal Pradesh
    2) Arunachal Pradesh
    3) Kerala
    4) Punjab
    5) None of these
    Answer – 2) Arunachal Pradesh
    Explanation:
    On 28th December 2018, a senior official of the Arunachal Pradesh government said that the government has remarkably succeeded in increasing the state revenue generation in the past two years with the record revenue collection of Rs 1598.49 crore during the year 2017-18 which is a new high in the last 30 years. The revenue generation had crossed the Rs 1,000 cr mark for two consecutive years since Arunachal Pradesh attained statehood in 1987 as in 2016-17, the revenue generation was Rs 1,253.57 crore. The improvement in result is believed to be achieved through the Team Arunachal mantra which has ignited minds of the employees to deliver goods to the people of the state. The government in the state has set a target to reach the Rs 2,000 crore mark in 2018-19. The source of revenue generation by the state government includes, share of central taxes, state taxes among others.

  12. Name the Indian-American teenager who has won the inaugural “Digital Transformation Hackathon” at Cornell University, New York, USA?
    1) Sharon Sebastian
    2) Mahum Siddiqi
    3) Ashwin Muralidaran
    4) Raghav Sanghvi
    5) None of these
    Answer – 2) Mahum Siddiqi
    Explanation:
    A 17-year old Indian-American teenager, Mahum Siddiqi has won the inaugural “Digital Transformation Hackathon” at Cornell University, New York (USA) for designing a device which can detect the actual level of pain of a patient during a diagnosis. The Device uses the neurological activity occurring in one’s brain to help doctors determine the patient’s pain level effectively and efficiently. Mahum Siddiqi, a class 12 student at Vestal High School is the only non-graduate student competing at the hackathon.

  13. Keonjhar Police of which state in collaboration with India Post issued 10 postage stamps of Rs 5.00 denomination, each featuring the Ashok Chakra Awardees from Police Department across India, under the “My Stamp” scheme, on 29th December 2018?
    1) Madhya Pradesh
    2) Rajasthan
    3) Odisha
    4) Assam
    5) None of these
    Answer – 3) Odisha
    Explanation:
    On 29th December 2018, the Keonjhar Police, Odisha, in collaboration with India Post has issued 10 postage stamps, each featuring the Ashok Chakra Awardees from Police Department (State Police and Central police) across the country, under the “My Stamp” scheme. The stamps which are of Rs 5.00 denomination and have the background picture of Sun Temple, Konark, recognizes the acts of valour by khaki-clad personnel. “Ashok Chakra”, which is India’s highest peacetime gallantry medal with 84 awardees till date is equivalent to “Param-Veer Chakra“. Most of the “Ashok Chakra” medallists are defence personnel and few civilian. Out of this, only 10 are police personnel.

  14. Swachh Surveksahan 2018 award for Best Capital City in the Solid Waste Management was conferred to _____, on 28th December 2018?
    1) Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC)
    2) Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)
    3) Greater Chennai Municipal Corporation (GCMC)
    4) Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC)
    5) None of these
    Answer – 1) Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC)
    Explanation:
    On December 28, 2018, Swachh Surveksahan 2018 award for Best Capital City in the Solid Waste Management was conferred to Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). It also ranked 27th in the list of 4041 cities in the Swachh Surveksahan Rankings. This edition of the survey was conducted by a third-party agency, Karvy Group appointed by MoHUA.

  15. Who was appointed the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Liberia on 28th December 2018, who is also the ambassador of India to the Republic of Cote d’ Ivoire?
    1) Mayuri Singh
    2) Y.K. Sailas Thangal
    3) S.K. Sinthya Thomas
    4) Manoj Prathap
    5) None of these
    Answer – 2) Y.K. Sailas Thangal
    Explanation:
    On 28th December 2018, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India announced that Mr. Y.K. Sailas Thangal who is the ambassador of the India to the Republic of Cote d’ Ivoire has been concurrently accredited as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Liberia with residence in Abidjan. Y. K. Thangal, IFS Officer of 1996 batch was appointed as the Ambassador of India to Republic of Cote d’ Ivoire on 14th September 2018. India is represented in Liberia through its embassy in Abidjan (Ivory Coast) and an active honorary consulate in Capital of Liberia, Monrovia since 1984.

  16. _____ who is presently the High Commissioner of India to the Republic of Kenya was concurrently accredited as the next Ambassador of India to the Federal Republic of Somalia, on 28th December 2018?
    1) Sameer Khan
    2) Rahul Chhabra
    3) Manish Chandra
    4) Vinay Sudeep
    5) None of these
    Answer – 2) Rahul Chhabra
    Explanation:
    On 28th December 2018, Rahul Chhabra who is presently the High Commissioner of India to the Republic of Kenya has been concurrently accredited as the next Ambassador of India to the Federal Republic of Somalia, with residence in Nairobi, Kenya. Rahul Chhabra, an IFS Officer of 1987 batch was appointed as the Ambassador of India to the Republic of Kenya on August 14, 2018. India is represented in Somalia through its embassy in Nairobi, Kenya and Somalia maintains an embassy in New Delhi.

  17. Which country successfully launched the first test communication satellite of Hongyan constellation and 6 Yunhai-2 atmospheric environment research satellites in its 297th Long March-2D rocket mission, on 29thDecember 2018?
    1) Japan
    2) South Korea
    3) China
    4) United States
    5) None of these
    Answer -3) China
    Explanation:
    On December 29, 2018, China successfully sent six Yunhai-2 atmospheric environment research satellites and a test communication satellite ofHongyan constellation into orbit. They were launched by a Long March-2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. It was the 297th mission of the Long March rocket series. The six Yunhai-2 satellites will study atmospheric environment, monitor space environment, prevent and reduce disasters and conduct scientific experiments. The test satellite, the first for the constellation Hongyan, meaning “swan goose” in Chinese, will be used to verify the function of mobile communications in low earth orbit (LEO). The test satellite was developed by Aerospace Dongfanghong Development Ltd. Shenzhen, a company under the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST).

  18. Scientists of which university have developed a virtual reality (VR) 3D model of cancer cell?
    1) Oxford University, England
    2) Cambridge University, England
    3) Harvard University, United States
    4) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States
    5) None of these
    Answer – 2) Cambridge University, England
    Explanation:
    On December 26, 2018, Cambridge scientists developed a virtual reality (VR) 3D model of cancer cell. This virtual representation of cancer cell allows viewers to ‘fly’ through tumour cells and observe them from different angles. It came from an original one-millimetre cubed piece of breast cancer tissue biopsy, containing around 100,000 cells, that was rebuilt using virtual reality (VR).

  19. Mrinal Sen, passed away in Kolkata, on 29th December 2018. He was a ______?
    1) Politician
    2) Businessman
    3) Journalist
    4) Film maker
    5) None of these
    Answer – 4) Film maker
    Explanation:
    On December 29, 2018, legendary filmmaker and Phalke awardee, Mrinal Sen, passed away at 95 in Kolkata. He was a National Award-winning director and recipient of Padma Bhusan award. He has also been conferred with Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2003. He was a contemporary to famous directors like Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak. Mrinal Sen made his first feature film, Raat Bhore, in 1955.

  20. Which Union Ministry has released a booklet titled “A Handbook for Students on cyber Safety” to inform the school children about the different aspects of cyber safety?
    1) Ministry of Home Affairs
    2) Ministry of Information Technology
    3) Ministry of Women and Child Development
    4) Ministry of Human Resource Development
    5) None of these
    Answer – 1) Ministry of Home Affairs
    Explanation:
    The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India has released a booklet titled “A Handbook for Students on cyber Safety” to inform the school children about the different aspects of cyber safety. The booklet aims to create awareness among citizens especially students about cyber threats and provides details about the various safeguards that can be adopted by the children in order to protect themselves from cyber grooming. The booklet also deals with the problem of cyber bullying, identity theft, cyber grooming, email fraud & job fraud and guides the citizens about the various safeguards to avoid such threats.

  21. Who is the author of the book “Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From” released on 29th December 2018?
    1) Tony Joseph
    2) Anjali Shekhar
    3) Roopa Malik
    4) Satyendra Das
    5) None of these
    Answer – 1) Tony Joseph
    Explanation:
    On December 29, 2018, the book titled “Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From” written by Tony Joseph, was released. It talks about the migration of the First Indians also known as ‘Aryans’ who arrived here 65,000 years ago.

Static GK Quiz based on Current Affairs:

  1. Prime Minister of Bhutan is _____?
    Answer – Dr. Lotay Tshering

  2. What is the capital and currency of Somalia?
    Answer – Capital – Mogadishu; Currency – Somali Shilling

  3. Where is Namdapha National Park located?
    Answer – Arunachal Pradesh

  4. Who is the Governor of Uttar Pradesh?
    Answer – Ram Naik

  5. Name the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh?
    Answer – Pema Khandu