Current Affairs 03 March 2023

ANS : A 

• On 20 December 2013, United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), decided to proclaim 3 March as World Wildlife Day, to celebrate all the world’s wild animals and plants and the contribution that they make to our lives and the health of the planet.
• This date was chosen as it is the birthday of CITES(Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) signed in 1973.
• This year World Wildlife Day is also a celebration of CITES, as it turns 50.
• The theme for World Wildlife Day 2023 is ‘Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation’.

ANS : B 

• President Droupadi Murmu will inaugurate the 7^th International Dharma-Dhamma Conference at Kushabhau Thakre Auditorium, Bhopal on March 03, 2023.
• The three-day conference, under the theme ‘Eastern Humanism for the New Era’ has been organised by India Foundation in collaboration with Sanchi University of Buddhist-Indic Studies.
• The conference aims to bring together religious, political and thought leaders from Dharma-Dhamma traditions to ponder over building a philosophical framework for the emerging new world order.
• More than 350 scholars from 15 countries are participating in this conference, which provides a platform for global views of Dharma-Dhamma.
• Bhutan, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Nepal, South Korea, Mauritius, Russia, Spain, France, America and Britain will participate in the conference.
• The conference will have 45 speakers in the inaugural session, a ministers’ session, keynote session and five plenary sessions to debate and discuss various subthemes, along with 115 paper presentations by experts from India and abroad in 15 sessions.

 ANS : C

• Vietnam’s National Assembly has elected Vo Van Thuong as the country’s new President.
• Vo Van Thuong’s election follows the sudden resignation of his predecessor Nguyen Xuan Phuc in January. 
• He is member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and was formally approved by the National Assembly to take over the presidency during an extraordinary meeting on March 02.
• Mr.Thuong, who is 52, is the youngest member of the Party’s Politburo, the country’s top decision-making body.

ANS : A 

• Chandrashekhar Dasgupta, former Indian diplomat and the recipient of Padma Bhushan, passed away on 2^nd March at the age of 82.
• During his almost four-decade-long career, he served as the ambassador to the European Union, Belgium, Luxembourg and China.
• He joined the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) in 1962.
• He was the high commissioner to Singapore between 1981 and 1984 and Tanzania between 1984 and 1986.
• Mr. Dasgupta also held the vice-chair of the preparatory committees of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), popularly known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
• He was an active participant in climate-related events and also wrote extensively on climate change.
• In 2008, he was the co-chair of the 12th EU-India Round Table held in Paris.

ANS : D 

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 02 inaugurated the eighth edition of the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi. 
• Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is the Chief Guest of the three-day Dialogue. 
• Speaking on the occasion, the Italian Prime Minister said, India’s leadership in G20 and the Raisina Dialogue together can send a message of cooperation and peace to the world.
• She said, global coordination on climate change should not be a zero-sum game and Indo-Pacific countries led by India have a strong role to play in this regard.
• Ms Meloni noted that India is a key player in the Indo-Pacific and Italy is a key stakeholder in the Mediterranean, and what happens in the Indo-Pacific has direct consequences for Europe.
• She highlighted that Mr Modi and she have announced the scaling up of the India-Italy bilateral relationship to a strategic partnership.
• The theme of the 2023 edition of Raisina Dialogue is “Provocation, Uncertainty, Turbulence: Lighthouse in the Tempest”

ANS : C 

• Senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla has been appointed as the Director General of the border-guarding force Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).
• Shukla, a 1988-batch Indian Police Service officer of the Maharashtra cadre, is currently the Additional DG of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
• The SSB guards the country’s borders with Nepal and Bhutan.

ANS : A 

• Jishnu Barua has become the new Chairperson of the power regulator Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).
• Post-retirement, Barua held the charge of the chairperson of Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd.
• The CERC has been established by the government of India under the provisions of the Electricity Regulatory Commissions Act, 1998.

ANS : D 

• The fourth edition of Gov games, which is being hosted at Dubai Design District began on 2 March 2023.
• The games will go on till March 5th and will feature several challenges.
• The Indian team from BITS Pilani – Dubai Campus is participating in the ‘Battle of Cities’.
• In 2018, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai launched the games.
• This unique event provides an opportunity for teams from different cities and countries to come together and showcase their skills in a collaborative and supportive environment. 
• There are 27 cities participating in the ‘Battle of the Cities’ category, which includes PILANI from Rajasthan, India.
• The twenty-seven cities are Brisbane, Nairobi, London, Leeds, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Florence, Dublin, Lisbon, Sao Paolo, Bangkok, Al Rifaa, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Gdansk, Paris, Marseille, Barcelona, Nashville, Pilani, Tashkent, Ajman, Dubai, Kutna Hora, San Diego and Colorado. 
• The winning teams from each of the four categories will be announced, with the top team receiving a prize of Dh500,000, second place receiving Dh250,000, and third place receiving Dh150,000. 

ANS : B 

• Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh has been honoured with the Player-of-the-Year award by the Asian Chess Federation.

• He was awarded for clinching the gold medal with a record-breaking score of 9/11 in the 44th Chess Olympiad at Mahabalipuram in 2022.
• In March 2022, Gukesh became only the 6th Indian to break the 2700 Elo-rating mark, and the youngest Grandmaster from the country to be rated above 2700.

ANS : C 

• Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha submitted his resignation letter to state Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya on March 3, 2023.
• He served as the 11th Chief Minister of Tripura since 2022, when Biplab Kumar Deb resigned.
• He also served as a Member of Rajya Sabha until he became Chief Minister.
• He also served as the President of Bharatiya Janata Party, Tripura unit from 2020 to 2022.