1. Agriculture Ministry has roped in Actor __________ to promote government’s flagship agriculture schemes like soil health card, crop insurance, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana etc ?
2. Cricketer ________ launched Power of Sports to Shape the Future of Adolescents campaign in South Asia. It is a UNICEF sports initiative for youngsters ?
3. __________ Co-founder Eduardo Saverin has become Singapore’s richest person with a net worth of $10.4 billion. Saverin gave up his US citizenship in 2012 ?
4. Obituaries -
- AS Anand - Former __________.
- Johnny Hallyday - France’s Noted rock star, known as French Elvis.
- Abi (Habeeb Ahmed) - Malayalam actor and mimicry artist
- Ja Ra Sundaresan - Noted Tamil journalist.
- Shashi Kapoor - Noted Bollywood actor
- Purabi Mukhopadhyay - Noted Rabindra sangeet singer
- Laloo Chiba - Noted South African Freedom Fighter of Indian Origin
- Adithyan - Noted South Indian music director .
- Sukharanjan Sengupta - Noted journalist
- Batuk Gathani - Noted Journalist
- Lalji Singh - Noted Scientist (pioneer of DNA fingerprinting technology in India.
5. Winner of Miss World Title 2017, ____________ is named as Indian of the year by Minister of Finance and corporate affairs.
6. ___________ Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been voted the Time magazine readers’ Person of the Year.
- Time magazine named the silence breakers as its Person of the Year for 2017. It refers to those individuals, mostly women, who came forward this year with #MeToo movement to publicly expose patterns of sexual harassment and assault by powerful public figures in United States.
7. ______________ is named top Indian actor of 2017 by Internet Movie Data Base (IMDb), followed by Aamir Khan and Salman Khan ?
8. Visits from India (Dec 1 - 10, 2017) -
- External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj Visited Sochi (______________) to attend Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. India and Pakistan became full-fledged members of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in June 2017.
- NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar Visited China to attend 3rd Dialogue between India's NITI Aayog and Development Research Council of China (DRC).
- Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu Visited Buenos Aires (Argentina) to attend 11th Ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
9. Visits to India (Dec 1 - 10, 2017)
- Roberto Tomas Morales Ojeda, Public Health Minister of __________ Visited India. During this Visit, he signed MoU for enhanced cooperation in health sector with India.
- Maurizio Martina, Italian Minister for Agriculture Food and Forestry Policies Visited India. During this visit, India and Italy signed MoU for cooperation in Agriculture and Phytosanitary issues.
- Afghanistan’s second vice president Mohammad Sarwar Danish visited India and attended an international conference on ‘Harmony and Memorial of Mother Teresa’, in Mumbai.
10. Sikh American Gurbir Grewal became first Sikh public prosecutor to be nominated for post of Attorney General of ____________, nominated by Governor-elect Phil Murphy. ?
11. Francois Gabart (_______________) created new world record for fastest non-stop solo navigation of globe, after completing it in 42 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes and 35 seconds. He crossed a virtual finish line drawn between the island of Ushant off France’s northwest tip and Lizard Point in southwest England at 0145 GMT.
12. Justice ___________ retired as Chairperson of National Green Tribunal (NGT).
13. Visits from India (Dec 11 - 20, 2017)
- Minister of State for Culture (IC) and Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Mahesh Sharma visited Muscat (_______________) for 2nd UN World Tourism Organization/UNESCO World Conference on Tourism and Culture.
14. Visits to India (Dec 11 - 20, 2017)
- Russia, India, and China Foreign Ministers' 15th meet held in New Delhi. Visiting Foreign Ministers - Sergei Lavrov (Russia), Wang Yi (China).
- Mr. Goh Chok Tong, Emeritus Senior Minister of Singapore Visited India.
- Argentine Football legend Diego Maradona visited India adnd unveiled his huge statue in Kolkata.
- Morocco Ministry of Health Abdelkader Amara visited India. MOUs -
- Health Care.
- Water Resources.
- Cooperation in Indian Maritime University (IMU) and Higher Institute of Maritime Studies (ISEM) of Morocco AND National Ports Agency (NPA) of Morocco.
- Cooperation between Institute of Training in Engines and Road Maintenance of Morocco (IFEER) and Indian Academy of Highway Engineers (IAHE).
- Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland Visited India.
- 2018 Commonwealth Games will be held in April 2018 in Gold Coast (______________).
- 4th India-Australia-Japan Trilateral Dialogue held in New Delhi. Visiting Delegates - Frances Adamson (Australia’s Secretary of Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade), Shinsuke J. Sugiyama (Japan’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs)
15. Indian Actress ________________ is named PETA's Person of the Year by animal rights organisation People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), for helping to protect dogs from fireworks to advocating for horses who are forced to pull carriages in Mumbai.
?
16. Noted __________ actor Partha Mukhopadhyay passed away.
17. Noted international sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik created world’s biggest sand Santa-face with message “world peace” at Puri beach (______________). The Santa face is 25 feet tall and 50 feet wide. It is to be placed in Limca Book of World Records.
18. Kavitha Bharanidaran (_____________) broke Guinness World Record for longest yoga marathon, by continuing yoga marathon for 5 days. She broke record set by Pradnya Patil (Nashik) of 103 hours.
19. Obituaries -
- Neeraj Vora - Noted actor and Director.
- AS Anand - Former _______________ of India.
- Johnny Hallyday - France’s Noted rock star, known as French Elvis.
- Abi (Habeeb Ahmed) - Malayalam actor and mimicry artist
- Ja Ra Sundaresan - Noted Tamil journalist.
- Shashi Kapoor - Noted Bollywood actor
- Purabi Mukhopadhyay - Noted Rabindra sangeet singer
- Laloo Chiba - Noted South African Freedom Fighter of Indian Origin
- Adithyan - Noted South Indian music director .
- Sukharanjan Sengupta - Noted journalist
- Batuk Gathani - Noted Journalist
- Lalji Singh - Noted Scientist (pioneer of DNA fingerprinting technology in India.
- Keely Smith - Noted American Jazz and Pop Singer.
- Bruce McCandless - Noted NASA astronaut (first person to fly in space without tethers)
- Banwari Lal Joshi - former UP and Uttarakhand Governor.
- Robbie Malinga - Noted South African musician.
- Bob Givens - Noted American Animator (creator of Bugs Bunny)
- Ashok Kumar Mattoo - Noted sports administrator, served as President of IABF (Indian Amateur Boxing Federation) and was first President of Hockey India.
- Partha Mukhopadhyay - Noted Bengali actor.
- Jatileswar Mukhopadhyay - Noted Bengali singer.
- Hoshang Dadiba Amroliwala - First Class cricketer (Mumbai).
- Sue Grafton -Noted mystery author (USA).
20. Visits to India (Dec 21 - 31, 2017)
- Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Dmitry Rogozin visited India. He attended Meeting of India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC) held in New Delhi.
- _____________'s External Affairs Minister Ayman Al Safadi visited India.