Current Affairs 28 February 2023

ANS : A 

• Nokia, a smartphone and telecom equipment manufacturer, has changed its logo for the first time in nearly 60 years.
• The new logo was launched by CEO Pekka Lundmark on 26 Feb 2023.
• The new logo comprises five different shapes forming the word NOKIA.
• Also, the company has dropped the iconic blue colour and now there’s a range of colours depending on the use.
• Nokia plans to review the growth path of its different businesses and consider alternatives, including divestment.

ANS : D

• The 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards were announced on 27 Feb 2023 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.
• Sam Elliott won Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries for ‘1883’.
• Jessica Chastain won Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries for ‘George & Tammy’.
• Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role was won by Brendan Fraser for “The Whale”.
• Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role was won by Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”.
• Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series was won by Jason Bateman for “Ozark”.

 ANS : A 

• Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari today inaugurated 7 National Highway projects with an investment of 6500 cr in Chitbada village, Ballia, Uttar Pradesh.
• With the construction of Ballia Link Expressway it will be possible to reach Patna from Lucknow through Purvanchal Expressway in just four and a half hours.
• New connectivity route between Ballia-Ara was also announced.

ANS : A 

• The UP Molasses Control Amendment Bill 2023 was passed in the UP Legislative Assembly on 27 Feb’23.
• No tax will be imposed on the farmers or on jaggery, but a regulatory charge of Rs 20 per quintal will be taken from the Khandsari unit.
• The UP State Legislature Amendment Bill 2023 was also passed to increase the pension from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 to former MLAs in Legislative Assembly.

ANS : C 

• The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)  has rolled out a new security mechanism.
• It is for Aadhaar based fingerprint authentication, and faster detection of spoofing attempts. 
• The artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) based security mechanism is now using a combination of both finger minutia and finger image to check the liveness of the finger print captured.
• The development is expected to be of immense use in segments such as banking and financials, telecom and government sectors. 
• It will strengthen the Aadhaar-enabled payment system and curb malicious attempts by unscrupulous elements, thus benefiting the ‘bottom of the pyramid.

ANS : B

• National Science Day is celebrated every year on 28 February.
• The theme of 2023 is “Global Science for Global Wellbeing”.
• The day is celebrated to mark the discovery of the “Raman Effect” by physicist, Sir CV Raman on this day in 1928.
• For this discovery, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930.
• In 1954, he was honoured with India’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna. 

ANS : D

• Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni will be on a two-day visit to India from 2 March 2023.
• She will be accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and a high-powered business delegation.
• The Italian Prime Minister will be the Chief Guest and Keynote Speaker at the 8th Raisina Dialogue, 2023.
• The visiting Prime Minister will call on President Droupadi Murmu in the afternoon on 2nd March.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Italian counterpart will hold discussions on bilateral, regional and global issues.
• During the visit, a business roundtable will be organised which will be co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal.

ANS : B 

• NASA has picked Nicola Fox, a longtime solar scientist who heads its heliophysics division to become the U.S. space agency’s science chief.
• She will be the first woman named to serve in the role.
• She is a former top scientist on the Parker Solar Probe mission studying the sun.
• Fox will lead NASA’s science directorate, a unit with an annual budget of roughly $7 billion.

ANS : C 

• Argentina captain Lionel Messi has been named the best player in men’s football by FIFA, at The Best FIFA Football Awards in Paris.
• Messi won this award for his outstanding performances in men’s football from August 2021 to December 2022.
• He scored two goals in the final against France.
• Spain’s Alexia Putellas won the best women’s player award for the 2nd year in a row.

ANS : C

• The Indian Govt has approved its largest-ever hydropower project in the mountainous northeastern region- Dibang Multipurpose Project (MPP).
• The project bordering China has received approval of an estimated investment of ₹1600 crore.
• The project will be developed by NHPC Limited.
• It is a 2,880-megawatt Dibang project in Arunachal Pradesh.
• The project is estimated to take 9 years to build.
• In a 90% dependable year, the project will produce 2880MW (12x240MW) of power, or 11223MU, of energy. 
• When it is finished, the 278-meter-tall dam will be India’s tallest.
• The Project is in the Lower Dibang Valley District of Arunachal Pradesh, on the Dibang River.
• The government of Arunachal Pradesh will receive 1346.76 MU, or 12 per cent of the project’s cost, upon completion.
• Dibang Multipurpose Project is intended to be a hydroelectric project based on storage, with flood control serving as the primary objective.