GK & Current Affairs Quiz: December 16, 2018

Notes:
Noted English author Amitav Ghosh has been honoured with 54th Jnanpith Award for 2018 for his outstanding contribution towards literature. The decision was taken in a meeting of Jnanpith Selection Board chaired by eminent novelist, scholar and Jnanpith laureate Pratibha Ray. Mr. Ghosh’s novels include Shadow Lines, The Glass Palace, The Hungry Tide, and the Ibis trilogy — Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke, and Flood of Fire — discussing the opium trade between India and China run by the East India Company. He is also recipient of the Padma Shri and Sahitya Akademi Award.

Notes:
The Union government has constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to examine the specific recommendations of High Level Empowered Committee (HLEC) constituted to address the issue of stressed power projects and forward their comments for consideration by the Union Cabinet. The panel, headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha, had submitted its report in November 2018. The other members of the GOM are Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and Power Minister R K Singh.

Notes:
On December 11, the world’s first Floating Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP) – Akademik Lomonosov – has become operational at the Baltiysky Zavod shipyard in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is constructed by the state nuclear power firm Rosatom. The FNPP has a capacity of 70MW and is equipped with two reactors of 35MW each. According to Rosatom, an FNPP’s operational life span is 40 years, with the possibility of being extended up to 50 years. An FNPP is basically a mobile, low-capacity reactor unit operable in remote areas isolated from the main power distribution system, or in places hard to access by land. They are designed to maintain both uninterruptible power and plentiful desalinated water supply in remote areas.

Notes:
The 39th Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit 2018 was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In it, the Secretary-General Abdellatif al-Zayani read the closure declaration in which member countries underscored their loyalty to the organization. The declaration called on to form a route map to complete the integration between member states and ensure financial unity until 2025. GCC declaration also emphasized that it would continue to support fellow states, the Palestinian cause, and Yemen. Although the 39th summit was held in Riyadh upon a request from Oman, Oman will be the president for the next 12 months. The next summit is going to be held under the United Arab Emirates (UAE) presidency. The GCC, established in 1981 in Abu Dhabi, comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Notes:
The National Energy Conservation Day (NECD) is observed every year on 14th December by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), under Ministry of Power, 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. The day is also meant to raise awareness about the importance of energy & its conservation.