GK & Current Affairs Quiz: December 23, 2018

Notes:
The first-ever meeting of the newly constituted India-China High-Level Mechanism on Cultural and People-to-People Exchanges was held in New Delhi on December 21, 2018. The new mechanism aims to build synergies in people-to-people ties. The meeting was co-chaired by the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. In it, India and China identified 10 areas for boosting people-to-people cooperation in keeping with the ‘Wuhan spirit’ put in place by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping after their informal summit at Wuhan in April 2018. These are as follows: cultural exchanges, films and television co-production, media, sports, youth affairs, tourism, exchanges between states and cities, traditional medicine, yoga, and academics.

Notes:
Ten monuments have been adopted under the ‘Adopt A Heritage: Apni Dharohar, Apni Pehchaan’ scheme, which is a collaborative effort by Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and State/UTs Governments . The project primarily focuses on providing basic amenities that include cleanliness, public conveniences, safe drinking water, ease of access for tourists, signages, illumination, Wi-fi etc. No fund is given by Ministry of Tourism. The 10 sites include Red Fort (Delhi) and Gandikota Fort (Andhra Pradesh) adopted by Dalmia Bharat Limited; area surrounding Gangotri Temple, Trail to Gaumukh in Uttarakhand and Mt Stok Kangri Trek (Ladakh) adopted by Adventure Tour Operators Association of India; Jantar Mantar (Delhi) by Apeejay Park Hotels; Surajkund in Haryana by Bliss Resorts; and Qutub Minar (Delhi), Ajanta Caves (Maharashtra), Leh Palace of Leh (Jammu & Kashmir) and Hampi (Hazara Rama Temple) of Karnataka adopted by Yatra Online.

Notes:
On 20th December, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh launched the iGOT (Integrated Government Online Training Programme) for government employees. The iGOT will augment the existing training mechanism with online module-based training coupled with certification. The programme, developed by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Ministry of Personnel, will make training inputs available to a government servant on-site and on flexitime basis. The initiative aims at “competent civil services for good governance”. Dr. Singh also launched Right to Information (RTI) Portal on Judgments/Orders of Supreme Court, High Courts and CIC that will provide a learning environment for all stakeholders under which a repository on the landmark cases on the RTI will be available at one place. He also launched a hybrid course on administrative laws developed by the DoPT in collaboration with premier law institute National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru.

Notes:
The National Mathematics Day (NMD) is celebrated every year in India on December 22 to commemorate the birth anniversary of great mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. The day also recognizes his contribution to the world of mathematics, which includes mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions. The NMD was declared by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2012 to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Ramanujan. Born in 1887 in Erode, Madras Presidency (now Tamil Nadu), Ramanujan’s affinity for Mathematics was such that he failed in college exams because of his negligence for non-mathematical subjects. However, his talents were recognized by a mathematician at Madras Port Trust were Ramanujan had started working as a clerk in 1912. In 1917, Ramanujan was elected to be a member of the London Mathematical Society. In 1918 he also became a Fellow of the Royal Society, becoming the youngest person to achieve the feat. But due to ill health, he died in 1920 at the age of 32.

Notes:
As per global auditors – International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Indian aviation sector has maintained the highest safety audit rating in 2018. Provisionally, India has been given 74% marks by ICAO and has maintained Category 1 (highest category) under International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) by FAA in 2018. FAA had conducted an audit of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in July 2018 — the third since 2013 — to confirm India’s adherence to standards laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organisation and oversight of Indian airlines. The Category 1 means the carriers from the assessed state may initiate or continue service to the US in a normal manner and take part in reciprocal code-share arrangements with American carriers.