Daily Current Affairs & GK Questions for December 18, 2021

This article presents a quick overview of everyday events on December 18, 2021, in the form of GK one-liners to help you prepare for the upcoming Kerala PSC, UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railways, and other competitive examinations.

Current Affairs

December 18, 2021


Important Days & Events

  • International Migrants Day.
    • Theme – Harnessing the potential of human mobility.
  • World Arabic Language Day.
    • Theme – The Arabic Language and Civilizational Communication.
  • National Minorities Rights Day.

New Appointments

  • New Director-General of Software Technology of India (STPI) – Arvind Kumar.
    • STPI – autonomous body under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

Parliament

  • Bills in Lok Sabha today – 
    • Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

National & International

  • Venue of the third meeting of the India Central Asia Dialogue – New Delhi.
    • Minister of External Affairs – S. Jaishankar.
  • With which nation has India launched a new initiative titled 'Technology-based Energy Solutions: Solutions for Net Zero' to support innovations addressing climate and clean energy challenges? USA.
  • What is the name of the rocket used by SpaceX today to launch 52 Starlink satellites? Falcon 9.
    • SpaceX – 
      • Formed in  – 2002.
      • Founder & CEO – Elon Musk.
  • Which sectors do India and Vietnam want to collaborate in after signing an MoU? Ecology & Marine Science.
    • France – 
      • Capital – Hanoi.
      • Currency – Vietnamese dong.
  • Name the French Minister of the Armed Forces – Florence Parly.
    • Capital – Paris.
    • Currency – Euro.
    • President – Emmanuel Macron.
  • Who organized the 25th CISO Deep Dive Training program? Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
    • Under Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative.
  • Name the first public-private partnership mission to raise cybercrime awareness and establish the capacity for safety measures for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and frontline IT personnel across all government ministries – Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative.
    • Launched in – 2018.
    • Launched by – Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
      • In association with the National e-Governance Division (NeGD).
    • Founding partners – Microsoft, Intel, WIPRO, Redhat & Dimension Data. 
    • Knowledge partners – Cert-In, NIC, NASSCOM, FIDO Alliance, Deloitte & EY.
  • What is India's position on the list of countries with the most spam calls, according to the Truecaller Global Spam Report 2021? 4th.
    • Spam calls – 1st – Brazil, 2nd – Peru, 3rd – Ukraine & 4th – India.
    • Spam SMS – 1st – Cameroon, 2nd – Somalia & 3rd – Tanzania.
  • Indian motor company, TVS Motors entered into a partnership which a global auto-making firm to develop electric vehicles (EV)? BMW.
  • The Odisha government today approved an Rs.1.02 lakh crore project to build a 24 million tonne per annum integrated steel plant in the Mahakalpara block of Kendrapara district. Which company submitted the project proposal? ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel.

Armed Forces

  • Name the new generation nuclear-capable ballistics missile that DRDO successfully tested on Dec 18? Agni P.
    • Launched from – Abdul Kalam Island, Odisha.
    • Abdul Kalam Island – Formerly known as the Wheeler Island.
    • DRDO – Defence Research and Development Organisation.
      • Formed in – 1958.
      • Headquarters – DRDO Bhavan, New Delhi.
      • Chairman – Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy.

Kerala

  • Name the general hospital where, for the first time in India, bypass surgery is performed at a district-level general hospital – Ernakulam General Hospital (GH).

Books & Authors

  • Author of 'Rewinding of First 25 years of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’ – S. S. Oberoi.
    • Former adviser at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
  • 'Autobiography of a Face' was written by – Lucinda Margaret Grealy.

Awards

  • Gold Winner of National Award for e-Governance 2020-21 – Cyberdome & Kerala Police Social Media Cell.
    • for Social Media Cell Covid Initiatives.

Sports

  • Newly appointed mentor for Lucknow IPL franchise – Gautam Gambhir.

Obituaries

  • Name the recently deceased Supreme Court judge who investigated the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots and the 2002 Godhra Riots  – Justice Girish Thakorlal Nanavati.

Today in History

  • 1398 – Capture of Delhi by Timur.
  • 1958 – First purpose-built communications satellite in the world, SCORE launched from Cape Canaveral.
  • 1961 – Operation Vijay.
    • Annexation of Goa, Daman & Diu.
  • 1971 – Bharat Ratna to Indira Gandhi.
  • 1976 – First & Only Amendment of the Preamble.
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