Current Affairs 23 March 2023

ANS : C 

• Kerala Governor Arif Muhammad Khan has presented the maiden ‘Kerala Puraskarngal’, the state awards to eminent personalities on 22 March 2023.
• The awards were given in three categories namely “Kerala Jyothi”, “Kerala Prabha” and “Kerala Shri”.
• Kerala’s highest civilian honor “Kerala Jyothi” was awarded to writer M T Vasudevan Nair. 
• In 2021, the government of Kerala instituted the civilian award “Kerala Puraskarangal” on the model of the Padama awards. 

ANS : C 

• Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu signed an MoU of Rs 817 crore project with the French development agency Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) to improve drinking water and sanitation services in the state.
• The MoU aims to provide better sewerage facilities in Manali, Bilaspur, Palampur, Nahan, and Karsog to improve drinking water supply in Manali and Palampur towns.
• The project aims to improve the environmental condition of water sources, reduce water-borne diseases, manage quality sanitation facilities in accordance with local regulations and international best practices, and bring financial sustainability to the drinking water and sanitation sector.

ANS : A 

• Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) launched the ‘Stories of Change’ a series of captivating journeys of 15 change-makers from grassroots.
• These stories of impact creators from across India are aimed at inspiring entrepreneurs.
• AIM will be bringing such stories in future as well to give a platform to community innovators and will also provide support to every grassroots innovators.
• Atal Innovation Mission is the Government of India’s endeavour to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.
• Its objective is to serve as a platform for the promotion of world-class innovation hubs, grand challenges, start-up businesses, and other self-employment activities, particularly in technology-driven areas.

ANS : B 

• Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) Chairman, Mukesh Ambani is the only Indian to feature in the list of top ten billionaires in the world, according to the 2023 Hurun Global Rich List.
• Regarding the number of billionaires, India ranks third in the 2023 Hurun Global Rich List.
• The number of billionaires dropped by 8% and their total wealth decreased by 10% compared with 2022.
• Mukesh Ambani has retained his title as Asia’s richest man for the third consecutive year.
• He is also the richest telecom entrepreneur on the 2023 M3M Hurun Global Rich List.
• India ranked third in the 2023 M3M Hurun Global Rich List, below the US and China, in terms of total billionaires in the country.

ANS : A 

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi said as he inaugurated the new International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Area Office and Innovation Centre in New Delhi on 22 March 2023.
• He also unveiled the Bharat 6G Vision Document.
• The new ITU office will serve India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Afghanistan, and Iran and it will also ensure economic cooperation in the region.
• PM launched ‘Call before u Dig’ App. 
• World Telecommunications Standardization Assembly of ITU will be held in October next year in Delhi.

ANS : D 

• India’s Sarabjot Singh bagged the first gold Medal of the ISSF World Cup Shooting Championship in the Men’s 10m air pistol category, held in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh on 22 March 2023.
• Sarabjot Singh completed a clean sweep in the gold medal match with a perfect score of 10.9.
• Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan inaugurated the event on 21 March 2023.
• China’a Li Xue won the women’s 10m Air Pistol.

ANS : B 

• PM Narendra Modi on 22 March 2023 launched an app called ‘Call Before u Dig’.

• It will help prevent uncoordinated digging that results in damage to underground utility assets like optical fibre cables, costing the government thousands of crores every year.
• It has been developed by the department of telecommunications and the Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geoinformatics.
• The app will connect excavators and asset owners through SMS/Email notifications and click-to-call in bid to execute planned excavations.
• As per the government, its an adoption of a ‘whole-of-government approach’ in the ease of doing business as well the governance.
• Under the initiative, over 25,000 underground asset owner offices have been registered in the app till now.
• As per govt data, one million cable cuts happen yearly in the telecom sector alone.

ANS : D 

• For distinguished service to the Australia-India bilateral relationship, Indian industrialist and philanthropist Ratan Tata has been appointed as an Honorary Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AO).
• Ratan Tata is Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, former Chairman of the Tata Group, and one of the richest entrepreneurs in the world.

ANS : B 

• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Lalit Kumar Gupta as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI).

• CCI is a PSU under the Ministry of Textile.
• Presently, he is serving as Director (Finnane) in the same organisation.
• He is also a member of the Institute of the Company Secretaries of India (ICSI).

ANS : C 

• The Abel Prize for mathematics has been awarded to Argentine-American Luis Caffarelli, an expert in “partial differential equations” which can explain phenomena ranging from how water flows to population growth.
• He is a professor at the University of Texas.
• This type of equation models how several variables change with respect to each other, and play a prominent role in many disciplines.