Current Affairs in English – February 24 2023

February 24, 2023

National Events:

ONGC:

• The Central Government has appointed Pankaj Kumar as ONGC’s (Oil & Natural Gas Corporation) Director (Offshore). He has become the first-ever Director (Production) of the company.
• He also has more than 35 years of experience in the business operations of ONGC, he held this post from the date of his assumption of office till his retirement.

NTPC Limited:

• According to the S&P Global Commodity Insights Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings-2022, India’s largest power generating company NTPC Limited, has been ranked 1st in Independent Power Producers and Energy Traders.
• The main factors of ranking are asset worth, revenues, profits and return on investment.

CSC Academy & NIELIT:

• CSC Academy, a subsidiary of Common Service Centre e-Governance Services India Limited, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NIELIT (National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology) to enhance digital literacy and skill development in India.
• The MoU aims to develop and implement initiatives that will promote digital literacy and create employment opportunities for the youth of India.

MPLADS:

• The Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation, Rao Inderjit Singh, launched the revised norms for MPLADS (Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme). He also launched a new Web Portal for the Revised Fund Flow Procedure under MPLADS.
• The new MPLADs guidelines and the web portal will come into effect from April 1, 2023, the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) said.

Fellowships & Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards:

• The President of India Droupadi Murmu presented the Sangeet Natak Akademi’s Fellowships (Akademi Ratna) and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puruskar) for the years 2019, 2020, and 2021 in New Delhi on 23rd February 2023.
• Kishan Reddy, Minister of Culture, Tourism and DoNER, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs & Culture, Dr. Sandhya Purecha, Chairman, Sangeet Natak Akademi, Uma Nadnuri, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture was also present at the awards ceremony.

EOY awrd:

• Sajjan Jindal, the chairman and managing director of JSW Group, was awarded as the EY Entrepreneur of the Year (EOY) 2022.
• The seven-member jury led by former ICICI Bank chairman K V Kamath selected Jindal as the EOY 2022 winner for his “exceptional entrepreneurial journey in scaling the global conglomerate with presence in steel, cement, infrastructure, energy, and paints to revenues of US$22 billion.
• Jindal has created a track record of executing large capital-intensive, technically complex, and state-of-the-art steel manufacturing facilities on principles of cost efficiency and operational excellence.

CAG:

• The International Labour Organization (ILO), Geneva has chosen the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) to serve as its external auditor for a four-year term from 2024 to 2027, the apex auditor announced.
• The CAG is Girish Chandra Murmu. The World Health Organization (2020-2023), Food and Agriculture Organization (2020-2025), International Atomic Energy Agency (2022-2027), Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (2021-2023), and Inter Parliamentary Union are currently being externally audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (2020-2022).

Raising Day function:

• The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will hold its Raising Day function in the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh for the first time, a place that has been a hotbed of left-wing extremism. The preparation for the celebration on March 19 will start in a few days.
• They are preparing the infrastructure. It will be held in Jagdalpur in a place called Karanpur- the headquarter of the 204 and 201 COBRA battalion. The parade will happen there. It is about 15 km from Jagdalpur airport.

 ‘Chintamanrao Deshmukh station’:

• The Churchgate railway station in Mumbai will soon be called as ‘Chintamanrao Deshmukh station’, named after the first governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) CD Deshmukh.
• The first national executive meeting of Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction, which was declared the original Shiv Sena by the Election Commission last week.
• The meeting passed a resolution to rename the Churchgate railway station after the former RBI governor and Union Finance Minister CD Deshmukh.

Gujarat Legislative Assembly:

• Gujarat Legislative Assembly has unanimously passed a Bill that provides for up to 10 years in prison to curb paper leaks in government recruitment exams.
• According to the provisions of the bill, the accused shall also be liable for a fine which shall not be less than Rs 10 lakh, which may extend to Rs 1 crore.
• The Gujarat Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2023, tabled by Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi, was passed as opposition Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) members gave their nod.

Central Excise Day:

• Every year on February 24, Central Excise Day is observed to recognise and honour the contributions made by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). Every year, Central Excise Day is observed to raise public awareness of the dedication and labor-intensiveness of CBIC.
• The primary responsibility of CBIC is to prevent the tampering of manufactured items. The agency hosts a number of programmes and events on Central Excise Day to raise public awareness of the value of paying taxes and abiding by customs procedures.
• On this day, CBIC also launches brand-new campaigns with a variety of topics across its offices all over India to raise awareness of the rules governing Central Excise and Customs.

ICAR:

• A new type of wheat has been developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to address issues brought on by changing weather patterns and rising temperatures.
• This brand-new HD-3385 wheat variety may be sown early, evades the effects of heat waves, and is ready for harvest by the end of March.

`Bal Snehi’:

• According to the initiative of the Women and Child Welfare department, a special bus for street children was introduced in Thane district.
• Thane district collector Ashok Shingare launched the bus, named as `Bal Snehi’, and Such buses will also be introduced in Pune, Nashik, Nagpur and Mumbai. Speciality of every bus, with capacity to accommodate 25 children at a time, will visit six places in the district and have a counsellor, teachers and a caretaker.

Gujarat government:

• The Gujarat government is planning to introduce a law to make the Gujarati language mandatory for students of Classes 1 to 8.
• The Gujarat High Court urged the Gujarat government to make a law for making the Gujarati language compulsory in the local schools to preserve the mother tongue.
• The government has announced to introduce a Bill in the State Assembly on February 28, 2023.

Justice S. Abdul Nazeer:

• Justice S. Abdul Nazeer has been sworn-in as the 24th Governor of Andhra Pradesh on 23 Feb 2023. He was administered oath of office by Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court Prashant Kumar Mishra.
• He succeeded Biswa Bhusan Harichandan, who has been given charge of Chhattisgarh state. He is a former judge of the Supreme Court. He is also a former judge of Karnataka High Court.

“Healthy Baby”:

• The “Healthy Baby” show campaign is being organized across Secunderabad Parliament Constituency.
• The programme was initiated with distribution of enrollment forms for the “Healthy Baby Show” in every basti, every colony and society of Secunderabad Parliament Constituency. The healthy children and their families are being felicitated with certificates and ‘Poshan Kits’.

Extension in service:

• Defence Secretary Aramane Giridhar has been given extension in service till October 2024. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved his extension in service as Secretary, Department of Defence, beyond the age of superannuation for a period upto 31st of October, 2024.
• Giridhar is a 1988-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre.

Girish Chandra Murmu:

• Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), Girish Chandra Murmu has been selected as External Auditor of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva for a four-year term from 2024 to 2027.
• CAG will succeed Supreme Audit Institution of Philippines as External Auditor. CAG was appointed for its high standing on professionalism, global audit experience and strong national credentials.

Saraswat Bank:

• Saraswat Bank has partnered with Singapore based digital banking solutions provider Tagit to implement omnichannel digital banking solutions for its retail and corporate customers.
• Under the association, the bank will use Tagit’s Mobeix Digital Banking platform to enhance customer experience. This will increase the market reach, faster time-to-market and enhance customer engagement.

International Events:

China & Pakistan:

• China approved a loan of USD 700 million to Pakistan in February 2023. The Board of China Development Bank has approved the facility of USD 700 million for Pakistan. This amount is expected to be received by the end of Feb 2023.
• Pakistan’s National Assembly unanimously passed a money bill aimed at raising tax revenues to fulfill the demands set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

U.N. General Assembly:

• The U.N. General Assembly approved a nonbinding resolution on 23 Feb’23, that calls for Russia to end hostilities in Ukraine and withdraw its forces.
• The U.N. has sent a strong message on the eve of the first anniversary of the invasion.The countries that voted against resolution: Belarus, Nicaragua, Russia, Syria, North Korea, Eritrea and Mali. India abstained from voting.

Roscosmos:

• Russia’s space agency Roscosmos successfully launched an empty SOYUZ spacecraft to bring back the stranded astronauts in space. Three astronauts were stranded in space as the Soyuz MS-22 capsule started leaking coolant.
• Now, with the leak, the astronauts will return only by September. The leak was due to a micrometeoroid, possibly the size of a small rock hitting the satellite.

India & Sri Lanka:

• The 7th Annual Defence Dialogue between India and Sri Lanka was held on 23 February 2023, in New Delhi. The meeting was chaired by Defence Secretary, Giridhar Armane and his Sri Lankan counterpart General Kamal Gunaratne.
• It is the highest interactive mechanism between both countries. The ongoing defence cooperation activities between the two countries were reviewed during the meeting.

Ajay Banga:

• S. President Joe Biden on 24 February 2023, nominated business executive Ajay Banga to become president of the World Bank. Ajay Banga is currently appointed as the vice chairman at private equity firm General Atlantic.
• He has more than 30 years of business experience in handling different roles at Mastercard and on the boards of the American Red Cross, Kraft Foods, and Dow Inc.

UK:

• The United Kingdom on 22 February 2023, surpassed India as the sixth-largest equity market in the world for the first time since May 2022.
• According to Bloomberg, the combined market capitalization of primary listings in the UK, excluding ‘exchanged-traded funds’ ETFs and ‘American depositary receipts’ ADR reached about $3.11 trillion in February 2023.

Instagram:

• Artifact, a new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered personalized news feed application by Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, is available to everyone, along with new features.
• Now, anyone can download and use the new application and no waitlist or phone number is required. The application is available for both iOS and Android users.

 ‘Compare the Market’:

• Insurance company called ‘Compare the Market’ has published a list of countries with the best and worst drivers in the world, looking at drivers from 50 countries internationally.

According to the list of countries with the best drivers,

Japan in first place

List of countries with worst drivers:

Thailand ranks first, India is ranked 4th place.

WMCC:

• The 26th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) was held in Beijing.
• The purpose of the meeting is to bring back normalcy in the bilateral relations between India and China, and also to restore peace along the Line of Actual Control.
• The WMCC was established in 2012 to provide a platform for consultations and coordination between India and China on border affairs.

IATR:

• The 11th World Tamil Research Conference of the International Institute of Tamil Research (IATR) will be held in Malaysia from 21-23 July 2023.
• This conference will be held to help Tamil scholars and other language scholars from all over the world to know the excellence of the Tamil language and excellence in other languages. First World Tamil Research Conference was held in 1966.

Sports Events:

Carlos Alcaraz:

• Top-seeded Spanish player, Carlos Alcaraz won his first title since his milestone U.S. Open triumph by beating Cameron Norrie in straight sets at the Argentina Open tennis Tournament. Alcaraz is the first Spanish player to win the title in Buenos Aires since Rafael Nadal in 2015.

ISSF World Cup 2023:

• India’s Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil won the men’s 10m air rifle event at the ISSF World Cup 2023 in Cairo.
• Croatia’s Miran Maricic, who topped qualification, won the bronze medal. Divyansh Singh Panwar and Hriday Hazarika narrowly missed out on the cut for the ranking rounds and finished 11th and 12th, respectively.