Weekly Current Affairs Questions and Answers: 27 December 2021 to 2 January 2022

Weekly Current Affairs Questions for UPSC/ IAS exams: Weekly Current Affairs Quiz section of Jagran Josh aims to help every competitive exam aspirant to revise the day at ease. This week, we have compiled 15 weekly current affairs questions and answers relevant for UPSC, SSC and Bank exams covering topics such as PETA India Person of the Year 2021, Sahitya Akademi Award 2021, Good Governance Index 2021 and NITI Aayog Health Index 2021 among others.

1. Who won the Sahitya Akademi Award 2021 in the English language category?

a) Namita Gokhale 

b) Bratya Basu 

c) Khalid Hussain  

d) Kiran Gaurav 

2. Who has been named PETA India Person of the Year 2021?

a) Deepika Padukone

b) Priyanka Chopra

c) Alia Bhatt

d) Twinkle Khanna

3. Which state has topped the Good Governance Index 2021?

a) Kerala

b) Karnataka

c) Gujarat 

d) Uttar Pradesh

4. Which state has topped the NITI Aayog Health Index 2021 among the larger states? 

a) Kerala

b) Uttar Pradesh

c) Rajasthan

d) Tamil Nadu 

5. Who has been appointed as Deputy National Security Adviser of India?

a) General M M Naravane 

b) Admiral R Hari Kumar

c) Pradeep Kumar Rawat

d) Vikram Misri

6. Which country has become the newest member of the BRICS New Development Bank?

a) Egypt

b) Tanzania

c) Nigeria

d) Sri Lanka

7. Which station has been renamed as Veerangana Laxmibai Railway Station?

a) Jhansi 

b) Gwalior

c) Itarsi 

d) Bina 

8. Who was named ‘Journalist of the Year' in Redink Awards for Excellence in Journalism 2021?

a) Danish Siddiqui

b) Faye D’ Souza

c) Prem Shankar Jha 

d) Saurabh Shukla

9. When was the Indian National Congress formed?

a) December 28, 1885 

b) December 29, 1886

c) December 28, 1893

d) December 29, 1875

10. Which cricketer announced sudden retirement from Test cricket on December 30, 2021?

a) Joe Root

b) Ben Stokes

c) Quinton de Kock

d) Eoin Morgan

11. Who is the first cricketer to play 100 matches in all three formats- Test, ODI and T20?

a) Virat Kohli 

b) Ross Taylor 

c) MS Dhoni 

d) Steve Smith

12. Who has become the fastest Indian to reach 100 Test dismissals?

a) Rishabh Pant 

b) KL Rahul 

c) Shikhar Dhawan

d) Virat Kohli

Answers

1. (a) Namita Gokhale 

English writer Namita Gokhale won the Sahitya Akademi Award 2021 for her novel ‘Things to Leave Behind’ in the English language category.

2. (c) Alia Bhatt

PETA India has named Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt as its 2021 Person of the Year to celebrate her work to support an animal-friendly fashion industry and for her advocacy for dogs and cats in need.

3. (c) Gujarat 

Gujarat and Delhi have bagged the top spot under state and UT categories respectively in the Good Governance Index 2021. The Good Governance Index is a comprehensive framework that assesses the state of Governance across the Indian States and Union Territories enabling ranking of States and districts.

4. (a) Kerala 

Niti Aayog released the fourth edition of its state health index for 2019-20 on December 27, 2021. Kerala retained its top rank in the report, titled “Healthy States, Progressive India”, which ranks states and Union Territories based on their year-on-year incremental performance in health as well as their overall status.

5. (d) Vikram Misri

Vikram Misri was on December 27, 2021 appointed as India's new deputy National Security Adviser in the National Security Council Secretariat. Misri is a 1989 batch Indian Foreign Service officer.

6. (a) Egypt

India on December 29, 2021, welcomed Egypt as the new member of the BRICS New Development Bank. With this, Egypt has now become a fourth new member to be admitted to BRICS NDB. The BRICS group includes five major emerging countries around the world- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa and the multilateral bank BRICS NDB was established by these rising economies to finance the sustainable development projects.

7. (a) Jhansi 

The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to rename Jhansi Railway Station as ‘Veerangana Laxmibai Railway Station’. Jhansi station's new name has been decided after Rani Laxmibai. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath made the announcement regarding the new name of Jhansi station on December 29, 2021.

8. (a) Danish Siddiqui

The Redink Awards for Excellence in Journalism 2021 were presented on December 29, 2021, by Mumbai Press Club with the Chief Justice of India NV Ramana as a Chief Guest at the virtual event. Photojournalist Danish Siddiqui, who died during an assignment in Afghanistan in July 2021, was posthumously awarded as the ‘Journalist of the Year’ by the Mumbai Press Club.

9. (a) December 28, 1885

The Indian National Congress (INC) celebrated its 137th foundation day on December 28, 2021. Indian National Congress was founded on December 28, 1885.

10. (c) Quinton de Kock

Former South African captain Quinton de Kock announced sudden retirement from Test cricket on December 30, 2021. The wicket-keeper batsman announced his retirement from Test cricket with immediate effect, citing his intentions to spend more time with his growing family. 

11. (b) Ross Taylor

New Zealand cricketer Ross Taylor is the first-ever cricketer to play 100 matches in all three formats- Test, ODI and T20. The cricketer announced that he will retire from international cricket after New Zealand's two-match test series at home against Bangladesh and six ODIs against Australia and the Netherlands. 

12. (a) Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant became the fastest Indian on December 28, 2021 to reach 100 dismissals in Test cricket, breaking former skipper and wicketkeeper Dhoni's record. Pant achieved the feat during India's ongoing first test against South Africa at Centurion.