Current Affairs 18 March 2023

ANS : C 

• Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) on 17 Mar’23 appointed G. Krishnakumar as its new Chairman & Managing Director.
• He is currently serving as the Executive Director of the company.
• Krishnakumar has been associated with BPCL for 36 years, leading the organization’s customer-centric ventures into convenience retailing, premium fuels, and new tech & digital initiatives in the company.

ANS : A 

• Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav on 17 March 2023, elected as the Vice President of Nepal.
• Ram Sahay of the Janata Samajbadi Party defeated Ashta Laxmi Shakya of CPN-UML and Mamata Jha of the Janamat Party to become the country’s third Vice President.
• He has been active in the Madhes movement for the rights and representation of the Madhesi people.
• Article 67 of the Constitution of Nepal provides a Vice President in the country.
• The tenure of the Vice President is five years.
• Like the President, the Vice President is elected by an electoral college comprising the members of the Federal Parliament (House of Representatives and the National Assembly) and the Provincial Assembly.

ANS : B 

• Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on 17 Mar 2023 announced 19 new districts and 3 new divisions in the state.
• A high-level committee was set up to examine the proposals for the new district creation and based on the final report of the committee, the announcement was made in the Assembly.
• Some of the new districts include Anupgarh, Balotara, Beawar, Deeg, Jaipur South, Jodhpur East, etc.

• Jaipur district has been divided into Jaipur North, Jaipur South, Dudu, and Kotputli districts.

• Jodhpur, the home district of CM, has also been divided into Jodhpur East, Jodhpur West and Phalodi.

ANS : A 

• Meghalaya got electric trains for the first time.
• The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) announced that Meghalaya has got the electric train for the first time in March 2023.
• NFR has completed the electrification of Dudhnai – Mendipathar line section and Abhayapuri – Pancharatna double line section on 15th March, 2023.
• Mendipathar is the only railway station in the northeastern state of Meghalaya which is in operation since 2014.
• In addition to reducing pollution due to the shift from fossil fuel to electricity, the efficiency of the railway system in the region will also improve.

ANS : B 

• Government will develop mega textile parks in 7 states under PM MITRA scheme.
• The union govt on 17 Mar’23 announced that the mega textile parks under the PM Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) scheme will be set up in seven states.
• The list includes Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
• Mega parks will boost the textiles sector in line with 5F (Farm to Fibre to Factory to Fashion to Foreign) vision.

ANS : D 

• Poland to be first NATO country to provide fighter jets to Ukraine.
• Poland’ President Andrzej Duda announced to send four Soviet-era Mig-29 fighter jets to Ukraine in the coming days.
• The transfer would make Poland the first North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member to have delivered the fighter jets.
• Slovakia has also announced that it would send 13 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine in the coming weeks.
• Poland had been one of the most vocal European nations against Russia – even before the invasion of Ukraine.
• Russia is still seen by many in Poland’s political and diplomatic circles in a Cold War context. 

ANS : C 

• The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) in March 2023 announced to set up of an emission-free Desalination plant in Lakshadweep.
• Currently, the desalination plants, each of which provides at least 100,000 liters of potable water every day, are powered by diesel generator sets.
• The NIOT will use Low-Temperature Thermal Desalination (LTTD) technology.
• Currently there are five desalination plants in operation in the Lakshadweep islands. Four more were expected to be functioning in the coming months.
• The proposed self-sustaining plant — the 10th — is expected to be ready later this year.

ANS : B 

• Author Rachna Bisht Rawat has come up with her new book titled “Bipin: The Man Behind the Uniform.”
• The book focuses on the life, personality, and principles of General Bipin Rawat who served as India’s first Chief of Defence Staff.
• He passed away tragically in a helicopter crash in 2021.
• The book has been published by Penguin Veer, a Penguin Random House imprint.

ANS : B 

• Swimmer Sampanna Ramesh Shelar has become the fastest Indian in under-21 group to swim across the Palk Strait from Talaimannar in Sri Lanka to Dhanuskodi in Tamil Nadu on 17 March 2023.
• He created this record by completing the distance of 29 Kms in 5 hours and 30 minutes.
• The previous record was 8 hours and 26 minutes.

ANS : D 

• Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB) on 16 March 2023 recommended the name of Indian Bank executive director Ashwani Kumar for the post of managing director of UCO Bank.

• Prior to joining Indian Bank, Kumar was serving as chief general manager of Mumbai Zone of Punjab National Bank (PNB).
• FSIB is headed by ex-secretary, Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), Bhanu Pratap Sharma.