Current Affairs in English – February 22, 23 2023

February 22-23, 2023

National Events:

SADUN:

• Power Minister RK Singh launched South Asia Distribution Utility Network (SADUN) which aims to modernise distribution of utilities in South Asia via knowledge sharing among distribution companies.
• SADUN is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Power, USAID and PFC. Singh said that all the member nations would benefit from the synergy, exchange of experiences and the sharing of vision-enabled by the network.

Twenty-second Law Commission:

• The Union Cabinet has approved the extension of the term of the Twenty-second Law Commission of India upto 31st August, 2024.
• The Law Commission of India is a non-statutory body constituted by the Government from time to time. The tenure of the present Twenty-second Law Commission of India ended on 20 February 2023.

Central Bureau of Investigation:

• The Central Bureau of Investigation has conducted searches under operation Kanak-2 at around 50 locations in Punjab at the premises of the Food Corporation of India, FCI officials and private rice millers in an ongoing investigation of a case.
• Incriminating documents and digital devices have been recovered during searches. The operation was launched to break the nexus of corruption in FCI.

‘Digital university’:

• The Ministry of Education and various stakeholders are working to set up the ‘digital university’, announced in the 2022 Union Budget, by August 2023.
• The university will offer the whole gamut of qualifications certificate programmes, diplomas, degrees. As proposed by the University Grants Commission (UGC), there won’t be any limit on the number of seats.

Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi:

• Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi has been appointed as the new Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO). Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi is a former Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission secretary-cum-scientific director.
• Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi will supersede Dr. PBN Prasad who is holding the position till 28th February 2023. The order which was released stated that Raghuvanshi will continue to be the DGCI till February 28, 2025.

Poet V. Madhusoodanan Nair:

• Poet V. Madhusoodanan Nair has been selected for the Jnanappana Award – 2023 instituted by the Guruvayur Devaswom. It will be presented to the poet by Minister for Higher Education.
• The award consists of a Rs 50,001 cash prize, 10 gram gold locket with an image of Sree Guruvayoorappan, a citation, and a memento.

Sansad Ratna Awards:

• 13 members of Parliament (MP) have been nominated for the Sansad Ratna Awards 2023. The Jury Committee of eminent Parliamentarians and civil society, chaired by Arjun Ram Meghwal (State Minister of Parliamentary Affairs) and Co-Chaired by T S Krishnamurthy (Former Chief Election Commissioner of India) has nominated eight MPs from Lok Sabha and five from Rajya Sabha for the Sansad Ratna Awards 2023.
• Sansad Ratna Awards were instituted on the suggestion of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam to honour top performing Parliamentarians. He himself inaugurated the first edition of the award ceremony in 2010 in Chennai. So far, 90 top performing parliamentarians have been honoured and all of them have received the award individually. K. Srinivasan is the Founder Chairman of the Sansad Ratna Award Committee and Ms. Priyadarshini Rahul is the Chairman.

Winners : Bidyut Baran Mahato ( BJP , Jharkhand ) Dr. Sukanta Majumdar ( BJP , West Bengal ) Kuldeep Rai Sharma ( INC , Andaman Nicobar ), Heena Vijayakumar Gavit ( BJP , Maharashtra ) . Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury ( INC , West Bengal ), Gopal Chinayya Shetty ( BJP , Maharashtra ), Sudhir Gupta ( BJP , MP ),  Amol Kolhe ( NCP , Maharashtra ), John Brittas ( CPI – M , Kerala ), Manoj Kumar Jha ( RJD , Bihar ), Fauzia Tahseen Ahmed Khan ( NCP , Maharashtra ), Vishambhar Prasad ( SP , UP ), Smt Chhaya Verma ( INC , Chhattisgarh ).

Kohima Village:

• As Nagaland goes to poll on 27 Feb 23, Kohima Village , also known as Bara Basti, the 2nd largest village in Asia has adopted resolutions for clean and fair election. Every citizen from Kohima village have been sensitised about their voting rights.
• The village council has come out with strict conditions that no political parties can campaign so as to enhance the clean election campaign.

Biswabhushan Harichandan:

• Biswabhushan Harichandan took the oath of office as the 9th Governor of Chhattisgarh on 23 Feb 23. Previously , he was Governor of Andhra Pradesh. He joined the High Court bar of Orissa in 1962 and the Bharatiya Jan Sangh in 1971.
• He was elected to the State Assembly of Odisha 5 times, and also served as a minister. He was the founder President of BJP in Odisha in 1980.

Dr. Mahendra Kumar Mishra:

• Mahendra Kumar Mishra, an Indian educator and social worker for the advancement of indigenous languages in Odisha, received the World Mother Language Award from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
• Mishra has worked over three decades on the language, culture and education of the marginalised languages of Odisha.
• Inaugurating a four-day programme of the International Mother Language Institute and conferring the award, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stressed the need ‘for research to preserve, revitalise and develop the mother languages of the world as many languages are being lost’.

DRDO:

• Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) said, it signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), DRDO, for the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) programme.
• It also signed another MoU with Cisco for long-term strategic cooperation in the areas of networking, collaboration, and security among other associated services, the BEL said in separate press releases.
• These MoUs were signed during the Aero India 2023 in Bengaluru from February 13 to 17.

Adm R Harikumar:

• The Chief of the Naval Staff Adm R Harikumar visited INS Nireekshak at Kochi where he interacted with the diving team of the ship involved in the salvage operations at a depth of 219 meters in the Arabian Sea.
• He commended the ship on the safe and successful conduct of the operations under the most challenging circumstances. This is the deepest salvage carried out in the country’s waters.

GatiShakti regional workshop:

• The first Prime Minister GatiShakti regional workshop for the Western and Central Zone was held in Goa. The workshop featured discussions on use cases of National Master Plan (NMP) adoption by Central Ministries & State Departments for planning and acted as a platform for mutual learning among the States and Central Ministries/Departments.
• Sumita Dawra, Special Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry and senior government officials from Central Ministries and State Governments of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh were present on the occasion.

Real Shiv Sena:

• The Election Commission recognized the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as the real Shiv Sena and allocated it the bow and arrow symbol. In the order, the Election Commission informed that 40 MLAs backing Shinde got nearly 76% of the votes polled in favor of the 55 Shiv Sena candidates who had won their seats in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls.
• On the other hand, the Uddhav Thackeray faction’s 15 MLAs got 23.5% of the votes polled, the three-member poll body said in a unanimous order.
• Meanwhile, 13 MPs of the Shinde faction got 73% of the total votes cast in Shiv Sena’s favor in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, while only 27% of the votes went to MPs from the Thackeray camp.

‘Krushi Odisha 2023’:

• Governor of Odisha Prof. Ganeshi Lal launched India’s first AI Chatbot for the Agricultural sector ‘Ama KrushAI’ at the valedictory session of ‘Krushi Odisha 2023’. Ama KrushAI chatbot will help the farmers with the best agronomic practices, inform them about government schemes, and loan products from more than 40 commercial and cooperative banks.
• Ama KrushAI will run under a pilot project involving more than 10,000 farmers and will be implemented in full-fledged in the next two months. Addressing the gathering, the Governor urged farmers to take advantage of different schemes announced by the state government to promote agriculture and help the state prosper.

Eknath Shinde:

• Eknath Shinde, the chief minister of Maharashtra, was elected as the Shiv Sena’s supreme leader during the party’s national executive meeting. The Election Commission of India (ECI) recognised his faction as the true Shiv Sena and gave him the “bow and arrow” insignia during the first national executive meeting following that recognition.
• The MLAs, MPs, and other Sena leaders who had joined Shinde after he split from the group headed by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray were present at the meeting.

Kerala High Court:

• On February 21, also known as International Mother Language Day, the Kerala High Court published two of its most recent decisions in Malayalam, making it the first high court in the nation to do so.
• On the court’s website, the Malayalam decisions were posted right underneath the English version. On the website, two decisions made by the division bench, which included Chief Justice S. Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly.

TCS:

• India’s largest IT services company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announced that it has won a deal to digitally transform Telefonica Germany’s specific operations. The latter is a leading German telecom company.
• The Indian IT services exporter announced that the partnership would entail building service assurance applications and processes within the Operations Support Systems (OSS) landscape of the German telecom company.

Delhi:

• Delhi has outlawed the use of bike taxi services, including those offered by well-known applications like Ola, Uber, and Rapido.
• The Delhi Transport Department issued the order banning the use of bike taxis on the grounds that doing so is against the law. The department ordered the bike taxi business owners to immediately cease operations.

Manoj Sinha:

• Jammu and Kashmir, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha inaugurated the 33rd Police-Public Mela at Gulshan Ground, Jammu. LG Manoj Sinha informed that the Police-Public Mela has emerged as a powerful platform for police officers and the public to interact and celebrate the shared heritage.
• He commended the Jammu and Kashmir Police Wives Welfare Association (JKPWWA) for carrying out numerous initiatives around the year to address the concerns of the families of martyrs and serving personnel.

Momentum 2.0:

• Delhi Metro Rail Corporation will soon launch India’s first virtual shopping app called Momentum 2.0 for metro commuters to purchase products, book services and collect orders at the destination stations.
• The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has revealed that the app will also provide features such as instant recharge of metro smart cards and smart payment options for other utility services.

Wheat variety:

• Scientists at the ICAR’s Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) have developed a wheat variety which can beat the heat.
• They have bred wheat varieties with what is termed “mild vernalisation requirement” or the need for a certain minimum period of low winter temperatures for initiation of flowering. The crop, when sown in October 20-25, will come to heading only in 100-110 days.

Millet Festival:

• Three-day long Millet Festival began on 22 February 2023 in Mumbai. United Nations has declared year 2023 as ‘International Year of Nutritious Cereals.
• As part of it, this festival is being organized by the Marketing Department. A book containing comprehensive information about Millet will also be released.

Indian Railways:

• Indian Railways will launch Guru Kirpa Yatra on 5th April 2023, from Lucknow with its Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train. During this holy tour, the pilgrims will visit the most prominent revered sites of Sikhism which includes the five Holy Takhts.
• Bharat Gaurav Tourist Trains is being operated by Railways on various famous theme-based circuits to showcase the cultural heritage of India.

QCO:

• Union minister for commerce and industry, Piyush Goyal on 21 February 2023, approved the Quality Control Order (QCO) for mandatory certification of cotton bales.
• He presided over the fifth interactive meeting with the Textile Advisory Group (TAG) in New Delhi. Under the initiative, modern testing facilities would be created through the Bureau Of Indian Standards.

Gulab Chand Kataria:

• Gulab Chand Kataria will take oath as the Governor of Assam on February 22, 2023. He is a senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and leader of the opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly.
• He is an 8 time MLA from Udaipur, Rajasthan is also a member of central working committee of the BJP. He was the Home minister in Government of Rajasthan from 2014 till 2018.

EAM:

• External Affairs Ministry’s (EAM) annual flagship event on Geoeconomics, Asia Economic Dialogue began in Pune, Maharashtra on 23 Feb 2023. The 3 day event is being hosted by EAM and Pune International Centre.
• The principal theme for the Dialogue is ‘Asia and the Emerging World Order’. More than 44 speakers from various countries will be participating in this Dialogue.

Namami Gange Executive Committee:

• The Namami Gange Executive Committee has approved 9 Projects, worth over 1200 crore for Pollution abatement in Ganga Basin and Ghat Development. It approved projects for sewage treatment in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
• It was chaired by NMCG Director General G.Asok Kumar. One project for the development of Atal Ghat Manjhi, Saran, Bihar was approved at the cost of 10 cr.

NHAI:

• National Highways Authority of India ( NHAI ) on 22 Feb 23 announced the use of phosphor-gypsum waste material in the construction of national highways.
• An Indian fertilizer company has constructed a road using phosphor-gypsum, which was evaluated by the Central Road Research Institute ( CRRI ). Based on the CRRI report, the NHAI has approved the use of phosphor-gypsum for road construction.

National Horticulture Fair:

• Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on 22 Feb 2023 , inaugurated the four-day National Horticulture Fair in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
• The fair is organised to showcase the latest technologies developed by the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru, under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research ( ICAR ), for the benefit of productive farmers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the meeting of the 41st edition of the Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI) Interaction on 22 February 2023.
• In the meeting, nine key infrastructure projects were reviewed and PM Modi also reviewed ‘Mission Amrit Sarovar’.
• PRAGATI Interaction was launched on 25th March 2015 by PM Modi as a part of the Digital India program.

Suresh Kumar Khanna:

• Uttar Pradesh Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna on 22 February tabled the State Finance Budget for the financial year 2023-24 with a focus on infrastructure.
• The budget made provision of Rs 1,050 crore under the “Chief Minister Kanya Sumangala Yojana “, Rs 4,032 crore for destitute widows and Rs 600 crore for the ” Samuhik Vivah” scheme for the marriage of girls of all classes.

Anusuiya Uikey:

• Anusuiya Uikey was sworn in as the 16th Governor of Manipur in Imphal on 22 February 2023. Justice MV Muralidaran, Acting Chief Justice of the High Court of Manipur administered the oath of office to Anusuiya Uikey.
• Anusuiya Uikey was the governor of Chattisgarh from 29th July 2019 to 12th February 2023. She became a member of the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh in 2006.

Mild tremors:

• Mild tremors were felt in Delhi – NCR and adjoining areas in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and other regions of north India as an earthquake of 4.4 magnitude on the Richter scale hit Nepal on 22 February 2023.
• As per the National Center of Seismology, the earthquake hit 69 km from Jumla in Nepal. The epicentre of the earthquake was within 10 km of the ground, 140 kms away from Pithoragarh.

Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena party:

• The first national executive meeting of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena party was held on 21 February 2023. The meeting passed a resolution to rename the ‘Churchgate railway station’ after the former RBI governor and Union Finance Minister Chintaman Dwarkanath Deshmukh. In August 1943, CD Deshmukh was appointed as Governor of the RBI and served in that position till 1949.

Tamil Nadu Events:

Hybrid sounding rocket:

• India’s first hybrid sounding rocket by private players was successfully launched from Pattipulam village in the Chengalpattu district of Tamil Nadu.
• Martin Foundation, in association with Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam International Foundation and Space Zone India, launched the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Satellite Launch Vehicle Mission- 2023.

International Events:

Gulfood 2023:

• Agricultural and Process Food Export Development Authority ( APEDA ) is participating in the 28th edition of Gulfood 2023 being held in the United Arab Emirates ( UAE ) in February 2023.
• Gulfood 2023 connects food and beverage sectors around the globe, providing ample opportunities to Indian exporters. 50 Indian exporters from different categories are participating in the event.

Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck:

• 7 – year – old Prince becomes first digital citizen of Bhutan. Bhutan’s Royal Highness The Gyalsey ( Prince ) Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck, has become the country’s first digital citizen by onboarding with the Bhutan National Digital Identity ( NDI ) mobile wallet in February 2023.
• Bhutan NDI uses cutting-edge technology to provide citizens with secure and verifiable identity credentials, ensuring the privacy and protection of their personal information.

I2U2:

• The inaugural I2U2 Business Forum was held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates ( UAE ) on 22 Feb 2023.
• It brought together private and public sector representatives from India, Israel, the US and the UAE to discuss opportunities for cooperation between the business communities of the four countries. It was the first event of this kind to take place since the official launch of the I2U2 Group.

Australian government:

• The Australian government on 21 Feb 2023, launched the inaugural Maitri Cultural Partnerships to help its creative sector work with India’s cultural industries.
• It will encompass a series of partnerships and grants to help the island country’s creative sector collaborate with India’s thriving cultural industries. It will also support small to medium-sized Australian cultural organisations.

UIC World Security Congress:

• A 3-day long 18th UIC World Security Congress jointly organised by the International Union of Railways (UIC), Paris and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) began on 21 February. Theme of this year’s Congress is “Railway Security Strategy: Responses and Vision for Future”.
• The seventeenth UIC World Security Congress, jointly organised by UIC and PKP, was held on 14 and 15 June 2022 in Warsaw, Poland.
• The theme of 17th edition was“Innovative security solutions for rail”. It provided a unique opportunity for the partners to exchange on the challenges of making rail more safe and secure.

Cancer care:

• Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, New Zealand, and Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH), Mumbai, the largest and the most renowned cancer care hospital and research centre in India, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to engage in long-term cooperation in cancer care.
• The MoU aims to explore ways to enhance cancer care using digital health. The two countries have a long history of cooperation in healthcare and this partnership builds on an already strong relationship. The University of Auckland is strongly committed to finding solutions to some of the most pressing global health issues in partnership with leading institutions.

MoU:

• Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), an aerospace company in India, and EDGE, the top defence company in the UAE, inked a Memorandum of Understanding at the International Defense Exhibition and Conference (IDEX).
• The Memorandum of Understanding is signed to examine potential areas of collaboration, such as collaborative development of missile systems and unmanned aerial vehicles (drones).

India and Seychelles:

• India and Seychelles signed six agreements in key areas, including maritime security, and on sharing of white shipping information that would enable the two countries to exchange data regarding identity and movement of non-military commercial vessels.
• According to the MoU, the countries will work together and improve maritime safety in the Indian Ocean Region.
• The safety provisions will be based on the SAGAR initiative – Security and Growth for All in the Region. With this, they will be able to correlate better and can share information in a more compressed way.

World Thinking Day:

• Every year on February 22, the World Organization of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) observes World Thinking Day.
• The goal of the day is to collect money for the 10 million girl scouts and guides who are active in more than 150 countries while also celebrating sisterhood, solidarity, and women’s empowerment.
• On World Thinking Day, female scouts are also encouraged to build enduring bonds with one another that prioritise loyalty and respect.

World Scout Day:

• World Scout Day is observed annually on February 22 by millions of Boy Scouts worldwide. It honours Lord Robert Baden-Powell, who founded the Boy Scout Movement, on the day of his birthday.
• The day is observed by National Scout Organizations all over the world through events including fundraising campaigns, food drives, and other types of volunteer work.

South Korean court:

• South Korean court has for the first time recognised the rights of a same-sex couple the country.
• The court has ruled that homosexual couples in the country are entitled to the same type of spousal coverage allowed under the national health insurance service as heterosexual couples. The ruling took place on February 21, 2023 by Seoul High Court.

Seattle:

• Seattle has become the first city in the United States to explicitly ban discrimination based on caste. A 2016 survey by the group found that one in four Dalits in the US had faced verbal or physical assault and two out of every three said they had faced discrimination at work.
• The city council in the capital of Washington state voted to add caste to the city’s anti-discrimination laws.

India and Guyana:

• The Union Cabinet has approved the signing of an air services agreement between India and Guyana. The agreement will provide the legal framework for air operations between two countries.
• Currently, India has air services agreements with around 110 countries. Indians have a sizeable presence in Guyana and are the largest ethnic group comprising about 40 per cent of the population.

New START:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia is suspending its participation in the New START, the last remaining major military agreement with the United States.
• The name START comes from the original “Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty”, known as START-I, which was signed between the US and the erstwhile USSR in 1991, and came into force in 1994.

Sports Events:

BCCI:

• The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is close to agreeing to a deal with German sporting goods giant Adidas to pay Rs 350 crore as the team’s uniform sponsor.
• Adidas will take the place of Killer Jeans manufacturer Kewal Kiran Clothing Ltd, which stepped in as a temporary sponsor last month after the original sponsor Mobile Premier League Sports (MPL Sports) backed out of the agreement in the middle of it.

80th Grandmaster of India:

• After winning the 24th NordWest Cup 2023 at Bad Zwischenahn in Germany and defeating German IM Ilja Schneider, Indian chess player Vignesh NR became the 80th Grandmaster of India.
• The Chennai boy reached the milestone after crossing 2500 in the live ratings. Vignesh’s elder brother Visakh NR had become India’s 59th GM in 2019. Thus, Visakh and Vignesh become India’s first brothers who are Grandmasters.

Tilottama Sen:

• Indian teen Tilottama Sen won the bronze medal in the women’s 10m Air Rifle at ISSF World Cup 2023 in Cairo in Egypt. The 14-year-old Tilottama Sen won the second bronze for India, fifth overall after ending the top eight ranking round with a score of 262.
• She missed out on the gold medal match by a narrow possible margin of 0.1. Great Britain’s Seonaid Mcintosh won gold and Switzerland’s Olympic Champion Nina Christen came second to win silver.

Dmitry Dmitruk:

• The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) appointed Dmitry Dmitruk as it new foreign coach on 21 February 2023. He has been associated with the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) as well as the Irish National junior teams for 12 years.
• He will work with both men and women boxers alongside the Indian coaches, including men’s chief coach C.A. Kuttappa and women’s head coach Bhaskar Bhatt.