Current Affairs Quiz – December 15 2017

Current Affairs Quiz

1. Who bagged the Mr India World 2017 title?
a) Abhi Khajuria
b) Jitesh Singh Deo
c) Pavan Rao
d) Prateek Gujral

Click here to View Answer
Answer b) Jitesh Singh Deo. Jitesh Singh Deo from Lucknow was bagged the Mr India World 2017 title. He will now represent India at the Mr World competition. Peter England Mr India 2017 is the ninth edition of Mr India World contest to be held on 14 December in Mumbai. Sixteen contestants from all over the country are shortlisted to compete in the finals.

2. Who has been awarded with the 31st Moortidevi Award for the year 2017?
a) Sunil Gangopadhyay
b) Shankha Ghosh
c) Joy Goswami
d) Srijato Bandopadhyay

Click here to View Answer
Answer c) Joy Goswami. Eminent Bengali poet Joy Goswami will be given the 31st Moortidevi Award for the year 2017. It is the first time the award will be given to a Bengali poet. ‘Du Dondo Phowara Matro’ is an autobiographical account of the poet’s life featuring his close ones including a pet cat.

3. Who took over as the president of FICCI for 2017-18?
a) Varun Sharma
b) Arun Geethe
c) Mohamed Khan
d) Rashesh Shah

Click here to View Answer
Answer d) Rashesh Shah. Rashesh Shah took over as the president of FICCI for 2017-18. Shah is also the Chairman & CEO of Edelweiss Group. Sandip Somany was elected Ficci’s Senior Vice-President and Sangita Reddy its Vice President.

4. Who was elected as president of Indian Olympic Association for a four-year term?
a) Narinder Batra
b) Kuldeep Vats
c) Onkar Singh
d) Rupak Debroy

Click here to View Answer
Answer a) Narinder Batra. International Hockey Federation Chief Narinder Batra was elected as president of Indian Olympic Association for a four-year term. The 60-year-old Batra secured 142 votes while his rival Anil Khanna got 13 in a two-way contest in the polls held under the supervision of a three-member Election Commission, comprising an retired High Court justices. S K Mendiratta, a legal advisor to the Election Commission of India, was the returning officer.

5. ______________Municipal Corporation was presented the National Energy Conservation Award by President Ram Nath Kovind for its LED replacement project
a) Tamil Nadu
b) Puducherry
c) Delhi
d) Chhattisgarh

Click here to View Answer
Answer c) Delhi. The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) was presented the National Energy Conservation Award by President Ram Nath Kovind for its LED replacement project. SDMC Commissioner Punit Goel received the first prize for conservation of energy through LED replacement in municipal sector. The LED programme, claimed to be the largest of its kind in the world, involved replacement of 2.80 lakh sodium-vapor lights with energy efficient LEDs, reducing total connected energy load from 37.50 MW to 18.31 MW.

6. Which state government has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National University of Singapore to collaborate on various aspects of governance?
a) Telangana
b) Karnataka
c) Kerala
d) Andra Pradesh

Click here to View Answer
Answer d) Andra Pradesh. The Andhra Pradesh government has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National University of Singapore to collaborate on various aspects of governance. They will work on strengthening knowledge and practices of governance and public administration, independent audit of real-time monitoring system and key performance indicators and master plan on ease of doing business.

7. World Telugu Conference (WTC) held in __________
a) Warangal
b) Nizamabad
c) Hyderabad
d) Secunderabad

Click here to View Answer
Answer c) Hyderabad. The city is all set to host the World Telugu Conference (WTC) being organised by the Telangana government in Hyderabad. The World Telugu Conference-2017 (WTC), the festival of Telugu language and culture, which would be inaugurated by Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu at Lal Bahadur Stadium. President Ramnath Kovind would be the chief guest for the valedictory on December 19.

8. The government has waived the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on all debit card, UPI, and Aadhaar-based transactions of up to ________for the next two years
a) 1000
b) 2000
c) 5000
d) 10000

Click here to View Answer
Answer b) 2000. The government has waived the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on all debit card, UPI, and Aadhaar-based transactions of up to ₹2,000 for the next two years, starting January 1, 2018. MDR is the rate charged to a merchant by a bank for providing debit and credit card services. The charges will be reimbursed by the government to the banks.

9. Eighth edition of the Indo-Maldives joint military exercise _______started in Bangalore
a) Sahyog Kaijin
b) Maitree
c) Varuna
d) Ekuverin

Click here to View Answer
Answer d) Ekuverin. The two-week long eighth edition of the Indo-Maldives joint military exercise, ‘Ekuverin’, will be conducted from 15 December 2017 at Belagavi, Bengaluru. The bilateral annual exercise is a 14-day joint military training between the Indian Army and the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), which is held alternatively in India and Maldives since 2009.

10. Which bank has launched a finance scheme tailored for media fraternity in the state wherein a loan of up to Rs three lakh can be availed by journalists and employees of media houses in the state?
a) Jammu and Kashmir Bank
b) IDFC Bank
c) Yes Bank
d) Bandhan Bank

Click here to View Answer
Answer a) Jammu and Kashmir Bank. Jammu and Kashmir Bank has launched a finance scheme tailored for media fraternity in the state wherein a loan of up to Rs three lakh can be availed by journalists and employees of media houses in the state. The scheme “J-K Bank sahafat finance scheme” was launched by the bank s chairman and chief executive officer Parvez Ahmad. Under the scheme, the journalists, media personnel and employees of media houses and newspapers can avail a loan of up to Rs three lakh for purchase of equipment like camera, laptop, tablet or mobile phone.

11. Vodafone India announced that ____________ will take over as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) with effect from January 1, 2018
a) Jayakumar
b) Manish Dawar
c) Arvind Kohle
d) Sunil Kumar

Click here to View Answer
Answer b) Manish Dawar. Vodafone India announced that Manish Dawar will take over as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) with effect from January 1, 2018. Manish joins Vodafone from Den Networks where he was the group’s CFO. He will take over the position from Thomas Reisten, who has been Vodafone India’s CFO for past four years.

12. FundsIndia.com has partnered with __________to launch Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on their Android app for mutual fund payments
a) ICICI Bank
b) Kotak Mahindra Bank
c) HDFC Bank
d) Yes Bank

Click here to View Answer
Answer d) Yes Bank. FundsIndia.com, India’s premier investment platform for mutual funds and equities, has partnered with YES BANK to launch Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on their Android app for mutual fund payments. Powered by YES BANK, FundsIndia becomes the first online mutual fund distributor to support UPI for client payments. UPI offers the benefit of instant processing of payments and is currently the fastest way to complete mutual fund transactions, compared to Net Banking, NEFT and other payment methods.

13. Axis Bank is launching an exclusive networking property____________, at a ‘one-of-its-kind’ event aimed at supporting the country’s start-up ecosystem
a) Axis Start-up Rural
b) Axis Start-up Urban
c) Axis Start-up Social
d) Axis Start-up Goods

Click here to View Answer
Answer c) Axis Start-up Social. Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank is launching an exclusive networking property, Axis Start-up Social, at a ‘one-of-its-kind’ event aimed at supporting the country’s start-up ecosystem. ‘Axis Start-up Social’ will go ‘live’ at a gathering of the country’s leading start-up players at ‘WeWork’ a leading co-working place in Bengaluru. The objective of this platform is to provide an opportunity for start-ups to network and share knowledge.

14. ____________has been selected as Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year
a) Earthquake
b) Youthquake
c) Crossquake
d) Infoquake

Click here to View Answer
Answer b) Youthquake. ‘Youthquake’ has been selected as Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year. The word, meaning a “cultural, political, or social change arising from the actions… of young people,” witnessed a 5-fold increase in usage year-on-year. Coined in the 1960s by a Vogue editor, it was chosen from a shortlist including ‘Antifa’ (short for anti-fascist) and ‘Kompromat’ (compromising information for blackmail).

15. The government raised the customs duty on television sets, mobile phones to _____ from the existing 10%
a) 12%
b) 14%
c) 15%
d) 18%

Click here to View Answer
Answer c) 15%. The government raised the customs duty on television sets, mobile phones to 15% from the existing 10%. Similarly, the duty on monitors, projectors, water heaters and hair dressing instruments has been doubled to 20%. Earlier in October, the government had increased the customs duty on polyester fabric to 20% from the existing 10%.

16. India and _________ have signed a pact to enhance cooperation in several areas of health sector, including non-communicable diseases and maternal, child and neonatal health
a) Morocco
b) Sweden
c) Germany
d) Poland

Click here to View Answer
Answer a) Morocco. India and Morocco have signed a pact to enhance cooperation in several areas of health sector, including non-communicable diseases and maternal, child and neonatal health. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by India’s Health Minister J P Nadda and Abdelkader Amara, Ministry of Health, Kingdom of Morocco. The main areas of cooperation included non-communicable diseases, including child cardiovascular diseases and cancer, drug regulation and pharmaceutical quality control, communicable diseases and maternal, child and neonatal health.

17. Which country became the first country in the world to shut down national broadcasts of its FM network?
a) Singapore
b) Malaysia
c) Canada
d) Norway

Click here to View Answer
Answer d) Norway. Norway has completed its transition to digital radio, becoming the first country in the world to shut down national broadcasts of its FM network. The country’s most northern regions and the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic switched to digital audio broadcasting (DAB) as scheduled. The transition, which began on 11 January, allows for better sound quality and more channels and functions at an eighth of the cost of FM radio.

18. Which country has opened the country’s first museum dedicated to a female artist, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian?
a) Iran
b) Saudi Arabia
c) United Arab Emirates
d) Iraq

Click here to View Answer
Answer a) Iran. Iran has opened the country’s first museum dedicated to a female artist, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian. Most of Farmanfarmaian’s works were confiscated or destroyed during the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran following which she lived in exile in the US for 25 years. “All my inspiration has come from Iran, it has always been my first love,” the artist said.

19. Which country will host the World Petroleum Congress in 2020?
a) India
b) UK
c) USA
d) China

Click here to View Answer
Answer c) USA. The prestigious World Petroleum Congress (WPC) will be returning to the US after a gap of over three decades, with Houston winning the bid for hosting the mega event in 2020. The World Petroleum Council selected Houston, America’s energy capital, as the host for the 23rd edition of the WPC which will run from December 6-10 in 2020.

20. Who won as many as eight gold medals including four in the team event at the ongoing 61st National Shooting Championship Competitions?
a) Sushma Rana
b) Mehuli Ghosh
c) Kavita Yadav
d) Bhuvaneshwari Kumari

Click here to View Answer
Answer b) Mehuli Ghosh. Talented Bengal shooter Mehuli Ghosh won as many as eight gold medals including four in the team event at the ongoing 61st National Shooting Championship Competitions (61st NSCC). Mehuli, who has recently secured a Youth Olympic Games quota, won the Junior Women’s, Women’s Civilian and Junior Women’s Civilian Championship golds by pushing back Gujarat’s Elavenil Valarivan to Silver in all three events.

21. Which IPL team appointed former Australia batsman Brad Hodge as head coach on a three-year contract?
a) Chennai Super Kings
b) Delhi Dare Devils
c) Kings XI Punjab
d) Bangalore Royal Challengers

Click here to View Answer
Answer c) Kings XI Punjab. Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kings XI Punjab appointed former Australia batsman Brad Hodge as head coach on a three-year contract. Hodge, who was Gujarat Lions’ head coach for the last two seasons, will report to franchise’s director Virender Sehwag. Kings XI Punjab head coach’s job was informally held by Sehwag last season.

Check out our latest videos on youtube