Current Affairs in English – May 5, 6 2023

May 5-6, 2023

National Events:

Polavarapu Mallikharjuna Prasad:

• The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PSEB) recommended Central Coalfields CMD Polavarapu Mallikharjuna Prasad as the next Chairman and Managing Director of Coal India (CIL).
• Prasad is expected to take the charge of India’s largest coal miner accounting for almost 80 per cent of the mined commodity from July 1.

P Krishna Bhat:

• Former judge of the Karnataka High Court, P Krishna Bhat, has been appointed by the Delhi High Court as the administrator of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) to conduct elections in the organization.
• The appointment is effective immediately, and the administrator will continue to function until a newly-elected body takes charge of BFI.
• The court has instructed the administrator to ensure that the election process is concluded as soon as possible according to the Sports Code.
• This decision was made in response to several petitions regarding the election of office bearers and executive committee members for the term 2023-2027.

Ramaland’:

• Ayodhya as a global tourism hotspot, the Uttar Pradesh government is planning to develop a theme park ‘Ramaland’ modelled on Disneyland to narrate the story of Lord Ram.
• With Ramaland, the tourism department is looking to attract children and adults alike to showcase the legendary tales from Ramayan in the template of ‘learning with entertainment’.

First International Multimodal Logistics Park:

• The construction of India’s first International Multimodal Logistics Park in Jogighopa, Assam, is well underway, and the jetty is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
• The park, which is being built at a cost of Rs 693.97 crore, will provide direct connectivity to waterways, road, rail, and air, and is expected to be completed in 2023.
• Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, visited the site recently to review the progress and expressed satisfaction at the pace of work.

‘CU-Chayan’:

• The University Grants Commission (UGC) has launched a new portal named ‘CU-Chayan’ for faculty appointments in central varsities.
• The portal will offer a range of features including a consolidated listing of job openings across all participating universities. Applicants will have a single login for applying to any of the universities, and personalised dashboards.

Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari:

• Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Pakistan’s foreign minister, arrived in Goa on 4 April 2023 to attend a conference organized by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
• This makes him the first senior leader from Pakistan to visit India in almost 12 years. The last time when such a visit occurred was in 2011 when Pakistan’s former foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, visited India.

Bastille day:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accepted French President Emmanuel Macron’s invitation to be the guest of honour at France’s traditional military parade held during Bastille day, on July 14th, 2023.
• An Indian armed forces contingent will take part in the parade alongside French forces. His visit will coincide with the 25th anniversary of the “strategic partnership” between France and India.

Bandhavgarh National Park:

• Archaeologists have stumbled on a 1,500-year-old rock painting and numerous 1,800-2,000-year-old man-made waterbodies in Bandhavgarh National Park(MadhyaPradesh).
• Eleven rock-cut caves have surfaced during the second phase of exploration in the Tala range of Bandhavgarh. The survey started on April 1 and will continue till June 30, 2023.

G20 TechSprint:

• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Bank for International Settlements (BIS) have launched G20 TechSprint, a global technology competition.
• This is the fourth edition of the G20 TechSprint. It will focus on developing innovative technology solutions for cross-border payments. The competition is open for developers around the world for submitting application from till 4 June 2023.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority:

• Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA), India’s leading container port, has achieved a global milestone in container cargo handling with a remarkable turnaround time (TAT) of only 22 hours.
• It was given in the World Bank’s 2023 Logistics Performance Index (LPI) Report. This success follows JNPA’s record-breaking handling of 6.05 mn twenty-foot equivalent units in the 2022-23 fiscal year.

Nagaland government:

• Nagaland government has set up a high-level powered Committee to look into the restructuring and re-organisation of Nagaland Police.
• Headed by DGP Nagaland Rupin Sharma along with eight other members, the Committee will review the existing structure and functioning of the Police Department.
• The Committee will submit a report in 60 days from the date of notification issued on the 27 April.

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya:

• Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Nadia, West Bengal won the first prize in the 24th National Youth Parliament Competition, 2022-23.
• Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has been organising Youth Parliament Competitions in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas for the past 26 years.
• Union Minister of State for Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal, distributed the prizes in New Delhi on 4 May.

SJVN Ltd:

• SJVN Ltd has secured a 100 MW grid-connected wind power project in Gujarat. The project was awarded to SJVN Green Energy Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SJVN, through a competitive bidding process followed by an e-reverse auction organized by Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited.
• The commissioning of the project expected to reduce 576,067 tonnes of carbon emissions.

Haryana Government:

• Haryana Government will be introducing a new feature on the Haryana-eSamiksha portal.
• It will enable Administrative Secretaries and Head of Departments to monitor the follow-up action taken on decisions made during their meetings and presentations.
• The portal will provide updates on file number, meeting date, chairperson, meeting description, and other documents.

Tamil Nadu Events:

QR system:

• For the first time in Tamil Nadu, QR system has been introduced in Nilgiri district to prevent smuggling of food items and provide quality food items.
• Also a free small grain scheme has been launched at Palkola Fair Price Shop in Ooty, Nilgiris District.

International Events:

King Charles III:

• The coronation of King Charles III and his wife Camilla took place in London in a ceremony on 6 May 2023.
• Prince Charles was next in line to the throne and was crowned king after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.
• Post the coronation, King Charles III will take over as the monarch after a 70-year reign of his late mother, the sovereign.

India and Bangladesh:

• The 10th Landport between India and Bangladesh was inaugurated at Dawki in Meghalaya by State Minister for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai on 4 May 2023.
• The landport will boost trade and facilitate easier travel between the two countries. Dawki landport provides facilities like the passenger and cargo terminal buildings, warehouse, sewage treatment plant among others.

WHO:

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared that Covid-19 no longer represents a global health emergency.
• WHO’S International Health Regulations Emergency Committee discussed the pandemic at its 15th meeting on Covid-19.
• The organization declared the coronavirus outbreak to be a public health emergency of international concern in January 2020.

CAF:

• Range countries of the Central Asian Flyway (CAF) have collaborated to strengthen conservation efforts for migratory birds and their habitats.
• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme/ Convention on Migratory Species (UNEP/ CMS) organised the meeting from May 2 to May 4, 2023, in New Delhi.

‘Machines Can See 2023’:

• The UAE government organised the ‘Machines Can See 2023’ Summit on 4 May 2023.
• It is one of the international conferences in Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the whole region, that took place at the Museum of the Future in Dubai, in partnership between Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications Office and ‘Machines Can See’ company.

Buddha Purnima: 5 May 2023

• Buddha Purnima, also known as Buddha Jayanti, is being celebrated on 5 May 2023. The day marks the birth anniversary of Lord Gautam Buddha, revered as the founding figure of Buddhism.
• Year 2023 marks the 2585th birth anniversary of Gautam Buddha. Buddha was born in Lumbini, Nepal. He attained Nirvana at the age of 35.

World Hand Hygiene Day: 5 May

• World Hand Hygiene Day is observed on the 5th of May every year. The day aims to promote the importance of hand hygiene in preventing the spread of infection and promote good health.
• The history of World Hand Hygiene Day can be traced back to the year 2009 when the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the first Global Patient Safety Challenge.

Sberbank:

• Sberbank, Russia’s largest banking institution has announced the release and testing phase of the nation’s first ChatGPT competitor named GigaChat.
• Sberbank claims GigaChat’s novelty is its ability to communicate more intelligently in Russian than other foreign neural networks.
• It is able to answer questions, hold a conversation, and write program code to develop software.

Sports Events:

Mark Nicholas:

• Mark Nicholas, a former England cricketer and well-known commentator, has been chosen as the next president of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).
• He will take over from the current president, Stephen Fry, and begin his duties in October of this year. The announcement of his appointment was made during the MCC’s Annual General Meeting.

FIDE & GCL:

• Global Chess League (GCL), a joint venture between FIDE and Tech Mahindra, announced Dubai as the venue for the inaugural edition. The world’s largest and first franchise-based chess league will be held in Dubai in association with Dubai Sports Council, the league’s Host Partner.
• FIDE and Tech Mahindra’s vision for the league will truly bring the sport of chess to a new audience and help existing fans relate to the sport more than ever before.