Current Affairs 22 March 2023

ANS : C 

• World Water Day is observed on 22 March every year.

• The theme for 2023 is Accelerating Change.
• The UN General Assembly made it a yearly observance in 1993 to raise community understanding about the importance of conserving water.
• It was formally included for the first time in schedule 21 of the “United Nations Conference on Environment and Development” in Rio de Janeiro, in 1992.

ANS : B 

• The second G20 sustainable finance working group meet started on 21 March at Udaipur in Rajasthan.
• The session was focused on understanding the effectiveness of non-pricing policy levers in enabling low-carbon development.
• It was mentioned that non-price-based policy levers (NPPLs) have performed better than expectations and are cost-effective in this regard.
• Financial sector’s green finance evaluation and the need for the development of an ecosystem for green finance was also discussed.
• Visionary leadership by finance ministers across countries on integrating climate into their core functions and capabilities was highlighted.

ANS : A 

• The second Consultative Meeting on Defence Cooperation between India and Jordan was held in New Delhi on 21 March 2023.
• The two countries discussed a range of issues including military training and courses, Cyber Security.
• Both sides also exchanged their respective capabilities in the defence industry and research and development for forging collaborations.

ANS : B 

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Area office and Innovation Centre in New Delhi on 22 March 2023.
• During the programme, Prime Minister will also unveil Bharat 6G Vision Document and launch 6G Research and Development Test Bed.
• India signed a Host Country Agreement in March last year with ITU for the establishment of Area Office.

ANS : A 

• In the Board Meeting of Invest India on 20th March 2023, the Board appointed Manmeet K Nanda as the Managing Director & CEO of Invest India.
• Nanda takes over after the resignation of Deepak Bagla.
• Invest India was set up in 2009 under Section 25 of the Companies Act.
• Invest India is an investment promotion and facilitation body under the Commerce And Industry Ministry.

ANS : C 

• Indian-origin Laxman Narasimhan has assumed the role of the CEO of Starbucks taking over from founder Howard Schultz. 

• Laxman Narasimhan was formerly the CEO of FMCG major Reckitt.
• Before this, Narasimhan held various leadership roles at PepsiCo. 
• Founded in 1971, Starbucks today has over 34,000 stores worldwide.

ANS : C 

• Rajasthan Assembly on 21 March 2023 passed the Right to Health Bill.

• It has a provision for mandatory free-of-cost emergency treatment for every resident of the State at both government hospitals and privately-run institutions.
• With this, Rajasthan has become the first and the only State in the country to legislate the right to health.
• The Bill was tabled in the Assembly on September 22, 2022, and was later referred to a Select Committee.
• The Bill gives every resident of the State the right to emergency treatment care “without prepayment of requisite fee or charges” by any public health institution, health care establishment and designated health care centres.
• The implementation of the law is expected to do away with out-of-pocket expenditure and bring transparency and accountability within the health care system.

ANS : A 

• Maha Metro Nagpur was honoured with the prestigious Asia Book of Records certification for three different categories, in March 2023.
• Two of the categories are ‘Longest Length of Metro Rail Corridor Construction in Shortest Time’, ‘First Solar PV System in a Metro Rail Project for Integrated Consumption’.
• The third category is `Heaviest Single Span Double Decker Steel Bridge Truss over Railway tracks in Urban Area’, in Asia.
• It has been also awarded Guinness World Records and two Asia Book of Records earlier.
• The citation and medal was handed over to Maha Metro MD Dr Brijesh Dixit by Shri Fadanvis.
• Maha Metro executed the construction of 24 km long Metro rail Corridor in a record span of 51 months, thus laying almost one km of track every two months.
• Maha Metro has designed Integrated Roof Top, Grid Connected, Net Metered Solar Power system, with potential of upto 50% of energy requirements of Metro.
• The Steel Bridge Truss at Gaddigodam is unique, the first of its kind in India in terms of design, transportation and adopting state-of-the-art fabrication and launching techniques. 

ANS : C 

• Lakshya Sen slipped six places to move out of the world top 20 in the latest men’s singles rankings issued by BWF on 21 March 2023.
• He slumped to the 25th spot.
• He reached a career-best world no. 6 in November 2022.
• HS Prannoy continued to remain steady at number ninth spot.
• In women’s singles, PV Sindhu stayed at the ninth spot, while Saina Nehwal slipped five places to 32nd spot.

ANS : D 

• Indian team’s star hockey player Rani Rampal has become the first woman in the sport to have a stadium named after her, in Rae Bareli.

• The MCF Rae Bareli has renamed the hockey stadium as ‘Rani’s Girls Hockey Turf’.
• Rani made a comeback to the Indian team during the tour of South Africa earlier this year, when she was included in a 22-member squad.