GK & Current Affairs Quiz: December 14, 2017

Notes:
OBOPAY, the global mobile payment solutions company, has recently secured a license for Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate a semi-closed loop wallet in India. Using the PPI license, OBOPAY will solve various payment related problems for their partner clients – bringing efficiency and transparency to the payments process, improving reporting, and reducing turnaround times for funds transfers. The PPI license can be implemented in a variety of industry segments. The license will enable the customers to do everything a prepaid payment instrument does: P2P, cash-in, bill payments, mobile recharge, and shopping. The headquarters of OBOPAY is located at California, United States.

Notes:
The 2nd UNWTO/UNESCO World Conference on Tourism and Culture: Fostering Sustainable Development was held in Muscat, Oman from December 11 to 12, 2017. This conference was hosted by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman. It was conducted within the framework of International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development (IY2017) to build and strengthen partnerships between the Tourism and Culture sectors. The conference discussed the synergies and strategies for the sustainable development of cultural tourism that generate resources for the conservation of cultural heritage while creating socio-economic benefits for the communities.

Notes:
Neeraj Vora (54), the Bollywood actor, writer and director, has passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra on December 14, 2017. He was known for films such as “Satya”, “Phir Hera Pheri” and “Daud”. As a writer, Vora began working in late 80’s on TV shows, including superstar Shah Rukh Khan-starrer “Circus”, while his first professional acting assignment was filmmaker Ketan Mehta’s “Holi”, which also starred Aamir Khan and was shot as a part of a student project. His last film as an actor was Anil Kapoor-starrer “Welcome Back” in 2015.

Notes:
The National Energy Conservation Day (NECD) is celebrated every year in India by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), under Ministry of Power, on December 14 with an aim to demonstrate India’s achievements in energy efficiency and conservation, while working for its ambition of holistic development as part of the nation’s overall effort towards climate change mitigation. On the 27th edition of NECD-2017, the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, will give away National Energy Conservation Awards to industries that have demonstrated measurable reductions in their energy use as part of the National Energy Conservation Awards Programme.

Notes:
India has been ranked 100th out of 149 countries at the 11th edition of Legatum Prosperity Index (LPI-2017). The index offers an insight into how prosperity is forming and changing across the world. It is the world’s leading global measure of economic and social well-being that studies 104 indicators under these categories: Economic Quality, Business Environment, Governance, Personal Freedom, Social Capital, Safety and Security, Education, Health and Natural Environment. The list is topped by Norway, followed by New Zealand, Finland, Switzerland and Sweden.

Notes:
The Kanha Tiger Reserve (KTR) is one of the tiger reserves of India and the largest national park of Madhya Pradesh. It covers an area of 940 square kilometres. It is home to over 1000 species of flowering plants. The KTR has species of tigers, leopards, wild dogs, wild cats, foxes and jackals. Other commonly seen animals in the park include the spotted deer, sambar, barking deer and the four-horned antelope. It has around 300 species of birds and the most commonly seen birds are the black ibis, bee-eaters, cattle egret, blossom-headed parakeets, pond heron, drongos, common teal, crested serpent eagle, grey hornbill, Indian roller, etc.

Notes:
The Karnataka government will soon launch a digital platform “Seva Sindhu” to address the issues of the common citizens in order to strengthen the ecosystem for government services. For this, the state cabinet has ratified the proposal of “Seva Sindhu. The interactive platform would provide all useful information about local events, employment opportunities, and others. The portal will provide services like income, domicile, caste, birth, death certificates, ration card, approval of social welfare schemes and other administrative work.

Notes:
Buddhist monk Dhammapiya from Tripura has been elected as the new secretary general of the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) in New Delhi. The IBC is a global Buddhist forum for preservation and development of heritage sites of the religion in India and other parts of the world.

Notes:
Rajasthan has become the India’s first state to offer free e-mail address in Hindi to its residents. The facility —[email protected] (in Devanagari script) — will lead to millions of new users who are not comfortable with English e-mail ids. The purpose of the initiative is to ensure maximum participation of people towards e-governance and that maximum facilities are available in the vernacular language. The first e-mail ID that was created was that of the chief minister, [email protected] (in Devnagari). All the government personnel in the state will soon have an email id in Hindi too.

Notes:
Nakul Chopra, currently President of AAAI and Senior Advisor at Publicis Communications, has been elected as the new Chairman of Television ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India. He will succeed Sudhanshu Vats, chief executive officer (CEO) at Viacom 18 Media Pvt. Chopra will be the 3rd chairman of the agency and has been on the board of BARC since September 2016. The BARC India is a joint industry body formed to design, commission, supervise and own country’s television audience measurement system.