Current Affairs Quiz 14th June 2023 Quiz

Exp. Education Ministry to host 4th EDWG Meeting in Pune

The Education Ministry will host the 4th and final Education Working Group (EDWG) Meeting under India’s G20 presidency in Pune from the 19th to the 21st June.

The theme of the Meeting is “Ensuring Foundation Literacy and Numeracy, especially in the context of blended learning”.

The Department of Higher Education is organizing a Seminar in collaboration with ELSEVIER on the 16th of June at IISER, Pune.

The Seminar will be held on the theme ‘Accessible Science: Fostering collaboration’.

This event will convene stakeholders across the scientific community to discuss best practices for accessible Science, how accessible Science can be applied across individual nations with differing local capacities, and ways to utilize science practices to support global progress.

G20 in News (Note – All Meetings are Under the Presidency of G20 by India)

• 2nd summit of Supreme Audit Institutions of G20 Meeting – Panji, Goa (12-15 June 2023)
• Third G20 Health Working Group meeting – Hyderabad
• 3rd Employment Working Group Meeting – Geneva, Switzerland (31 May – 2 June 2023)
• 2nd G-20 Anti-Corruption Working Group Meeting – Rishikesh, Uttarakhand (25 – 27 May 2023)
• 2nd G-20 Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group Meeting – Mumbai, Maharashtra (23 – 25 May 2023)
• 2nd Trade and Investment Working Group Meeting – Bengaluru, Karnataka (23 – 25 May 2023)

Exp. India’s CPI inflation eases to 4.25 percent in May

India’s retail inflation dropped to 4.25 percent in May from 4.7 percent in April, according to a data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

The consumer price-based index (CPI) inflation in May is lowest in 25 months.

The food inflation also eased to 2.91 percent in April. It was 3.84 percent in the month of April.

The food basket accounts for nearly half of the CPI. While, inflation in fuel and light also eased to 4.64 percent, from 5.52 percent in April.

It was for the second month in a row that retail inflation remained within the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s comfort zone of below six percent.

Despite the huge 227-basis-point fall since January, CPI inflation remains above the central bank’s medium-term target of 4 percent for the 44th month in a row.

India’s CPI inflation in April fell sharply to 4.7 percent from 6.4 percent in February on the back of favourable base effects, with softening observed across all three major groups.

Recent CPI-based Retail inflation in India

• January 2023 – 52%
• February 2023 – 44%
• March 2023 –665
• April 2023 – 4.7%
• May 2023 –25%

Exp. Punjab & Sind Bank to raise Rs 750 cr via bonds

State-owned Punjab & Sind Bank has planned to raise Rs 750 crore from bonds to fund business growth.

The board has approved the raising of capital up to Rs 750 crore through the issuance of Basel-Ill compliant Additional Tier-I Bonds or Tier-Il Bonds.

The fundraising will be done in one or more tranches within a period of 12 months.

About Punjab & Sind Bank

• Founded – 24 June 1908
• Headquarters – New Delhi
• MD & CEO – Swarup Kumar Saha
• Executive Director – Kollegal V Raghavendra
• Tagline – Where Service is a Way of Life

Exp. Punjab National Bank launches IVR-based UPI 123PAY

Punjab National Bank (PNB) has become the first public sector bank to introduce an IVR-based UPI solution – UPI 123PAY.

What is UPI 123PAY

• Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a 24-hour payment channel enabling customers to perform fast, encrypted and real-time payments.
• Till now, the solution was accessible only through smartphones or through Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) service and was dependent on good internet connectivity.
• The UPI 123PAY solution would extend the functionality and facilitate the feature to any phone users and those in low internet connectivity zones to perform UPI transactions.

How to use UPI 123PAY

• The UPI 123PAY functionality is simple and involves the following steps:
• Step 1-Dial the bank’s easy-to-remember IVR number “9188-123-123″
• Step 2-Choose the beneficiary
• Step 3-Authenticate the transaction
• UPI 123PAY will be multilingual and be available in the customer’s preferred language.
• The solution is available in multiple languages and can be accessed by dialing 9188-123-123.

IDFC First Bank, City Union Bank, and NSDL Payments Bank have also gone live on IVR payments.

About Punjab National Bank (PNB)

• Founded – 12 April 1894
• Founder – Dyal Singh Majithia and Lala Lajpat Rai
• Headquarters – New Delhi
• MD & CEO – Atul Kumar Goel
• Tagline – The Name You can Bank Upon
• Punjab National Bank Merge – (Oriental Bank of Commerce & United Bank of India

Recent Facilities Launched in Banks & Insurance Sector

• Federal Bank launches ‘I am Adyar, Adyar is me’ campaign
• Google Pay launches Aadhaar-based authentication for UPI activation
• HDFC Bank has introduced a new credit card — Millennia — offering cashback.
• Kotak Bank launches Réserve premium account for the super-rich
• Bank of Baroda launches of Interoperable Cardless Cash
• RBI Governor launches Financial Inclusion Dashboard ‘ANTARDRIHSTI’

Exp. India, ADB sign $130 million loan MoU to boost horticulture in HP

The Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed a loan agreement worth $130 million in order to increase agricultural productivity, improve access to irrigation and promote horticulture agribusinesses to raise farmers’ income in Himachal Pradesh.

The project interventions will help increase the income and resilience to the effects of climate change of at least 15,000 farm households across 7 districts of the state namely Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra, Mandi, Sirmour, Solan, and Una.

The project builds upon a pilot financed by ADB’s project readiness facility which demonstrated the subtropical horticulture production over 200 hectares and prepared the draft water user association (WUA) act and the draft state horticulture development strategy.

About Himachal Pradesh

• Capital – Shimla (Summer), Dharamshala (Winter)
• Chief Minister – Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu
• Deputy Chief Minister – Mukesh Agnihotri
• Governor – Shiv Pratap Shukla

Exp. KVG Bank launches new deposit scheme

Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB) has launched a new deposit scheme ‘Vikas Ashadeep 400 days’.

The scheme is of a tenor of 400 days with an interest rate of 7.50 percent for senior citizens and 7 percent for general public.

Under the scheme, a minimum of ₹10,000 and a maximum of ₹2 crore can be deposited.

The scheme is applicable to all segments of depositors, including senior citizens, and institutions. The scheme is open for a limited period.

The bank has a network of 639 branches with total business of ₹33350 crore. This included ₹18710 crore of deposits and ₹14640 crore of advances.

Recent Facilities Launched in Banks & Insurance Sector

• Federal Bank launches ‘I am Adyar, Adyar is me’ campaign
• Google Pay launches Aadhaar-based authentication for UPI activation
• HDFC Bank has introduced a new credit card — Millennia — offering cashback.
• Kotak Bank launches Réserve premium account for the super-rich
• Bank of Baroda launches of Interoperable Cardless Cash

Exp. Amitava Mukherjee gets 3 months extension as CMD of NMDC

The Ministry of Steel has given three months extension to Amitava Mukherjee, Director (Finance) of the NMDC to hold the additional charge of Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) mining major and its disinvested company NMDC Steel Limited (NSL).

Thus, he will be holding the additional charge as CMD of NMDC Limited for a further period of three months with effect from June 1, 2023 to August 31, 2023.

A wholly owned subsidiary of NMDC Limited, NMDC Steel Limited was incorporated on January 2, 2015, under the Companies Act, 2013 with a registered office at NMDC Iron and Steel Plant, Nagarnar (Bastar, Chhattisgarh).

The NSL has set up a 3 MTPA greenfield integrated steel plant in Nagarnar that is all set to go on full stream this month.

Recent Appointment

• CEO of Unique Identification Authority (UIDAI) – Amit Agrawal
• Director General of the National Testing Agency (NTA) – Subodh Kumar Singh
• Chair-elect of IATA’s Board of Governors – Pieter Elbers
• CMD of Director of Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR) – Sanjay Swarup
• Chairman of The Hindu Group – Nirmala Laxman (replace Malini Parthasarathy)
• 78th UNGA president – Dennis Francis (Trinidad and Tobago)

Exp. Harry Tector won ICC Men’s Player of the Month for May

Ireland’s Harry Tector has won the ICC’s Men’s Player of The Month award for May 2023, beating off competition from Pakistan star Babar Azam and Bangladesh’s Najmul Hossain Shanto.

Tector has been one of the rising stars in Ireland cricket and was in top form during the ODI series against Bangladesh recently.

The 23-year-old was 21 not out in the first match, that got washed out, but it was in the second ODI he showed his class.

Tector scored 140 from just 113 balls with seven fours and 10 sixes to help Ireland recover from a poor start. The youngster would then cap off a great series for him with 45 in the final ODI.

While, 19-year-old Thipatcha Putthawong (Thiland) has become the latest recipient of the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for May 2023, after her countrywoman Naruemol Chaiwai won it last month.

ICC Men’s Player of the Month 2023

• January 2023 – Shubman Gill (India)
• February 2023 – Harry Brook (England)
• March 2023 – Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh)
• April 2023 – Fakhar Zaman (Pakistan)
• May 2023 – Harry Tector (Ireland)

ICC Women’s Player of the Month 2023

• January 2023 – Grace Scrivens (England)
• February 2023 – Ashleigh Gardner (Australia)
• March 2023 – Henriette Ishimwe (Rawanda)
• April 2023 – Naruemol Chaiwai (Thailand)
• May 2023 – Thipatcha Putthawong (Thiland)

Exp. Indo-Maldives joint military exercise commences

The 12th edition of the joint military exercise “Ex Ekuverin” between the Indian Army and the Maldives National Defence Force has commenced at Chaubatia, Uttarakhand.

“Ekuverin” means “Friends” and is a bilateral annual exercise conducted alternatively in India & Maldives.

The primary objective of the exercise is to enhance interoperability in counter-insurgency/counter-terrorism operations under the UN mandate.

Additionally, it aims to facilitate joint humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations, it added.

The previous edition of the exercise, the 11th edition, was held in the Maldives in December 2021.

Recent Exercise

• AL MOHED AL HINDI 2023 Naval Exercise between India & Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia
• Exercise Jal Rahat between Indian Army’s Gajraj and Joint Flood Relief – Hagrama Bridge (Manas River), Assam.
• 4th Samudra Shakti-23 exercise between India & Indonesia – Batam, Indonesia
• 1st Maritime Exercise between India & ASEAN – Changi Naval Base (Singapore) & South China Sea.
• 7th Ajeya Warrior 2023 between India & UK – Salisbury Plains, UK
• “Locked Shields” cyber-defense exercise 2023 organized by NATO in Tallinn, Estonia

Exp. Andy Murray beats Jurij Rodionov to win Surbiton Trophy

Tennis player Andy Murray clinched his second ATP Challenger Tour title of the season Surbiton Trophy.

The former World No. 1 defeated Jurij Rodionov 6-3, 6-2 in the final at the ATP Challenger Tour 125 grass-court event.

The 36-year-old Murray also became the oldest grass-court champion at an ATP Challenger Tour event and earned a seeded position at Wimbledon next month which begins on 3 July.

It was his first singles title on grass since winning Wimbledon in 2016. Murray withdrew from the French Open to prioritize Wimbledon, where he has won two of his majors on grass.

Exp. Uruguay beat Italy to win maiden FIFA U-20 World Cup title

Uruguay beat Italy 1-0 to win its first Under-20 World Cup title.

The Celeste’s victory ends a streak of four consecutive wins of European teams in the tournament.

Luciano Rodríguez scored the winning goal in the 86th minute in a header from close range, giving Uruguay a much-deserved victory after an entire match of dominance against Italy.

France finished third, defeating South Korea 3-2 in the third-place playoff.

Uruguay lost the final of the tournament in 1997 and 2013. Brazil was the last winner from South America in 2011.

FIFA decided to hand the organization over to Argentina one month before kickoff.

About International Federation of Association Football (FIFA)

• Founded – 21 May 1904
• Founded – Paris, France
• Headquarters – Zürich, Switzerland
• Membership – 211
• Languages – English, French, German, Spanish & Italian
• First President – Robert Guérin
• Current President – Gianni Infantino (Switzerland)
• Secretary General – Fatma Samoura (Senegal)

Exp.  RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das named ‘Governor of the Year’

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das was awarded the “Governor of the Year” at the Central Banking Awards 2023 in London.

Central Banking is a London-based international economic research journal.

Das is the second RBI governor to receive the award after Raghuram Rajan, who was given the title in 2015.

The RBI governor has cemented critical reforms, overseen world-leading payments innovation and steered India through difficult times with a steady hand and well-crafted turn of phrase.

Das is a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, who is currently serving as the 25th governor of the RBI.

He has worked for both the central government and the Tamil Nadu government in several capacities, such as the economic affairs secretary, the revenue secretary, and fertilizers secretary.

Recent Awards

• RSL Christopher Bland Prize 2023 – Paterson Joseph (for Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho)
• UNESCO Michel Batisse award 2023 – Jagdish S Bakan
• Suriname highest civilian award Grand Order of the Chain of the Yellow Star – Droupadi Murmu
• Greentech Safety Award 2023 – Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL)
• 57th Jnanpith Award – Damodar Maujo
• Honoris Causa at Apex University’s Jaipur – Sonu Sood

Exp.  13 June – International Albinism Awareness Day

International Albinism Awareness Day is observed every year on 13 June.

Objective – To spread awareness about the human rights of the Albinos across the world and also to condemn such attacks

Theme 2023 – Inclusion Is Strength

The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted the first resolution on albinism on June 13, 2013, called “Attacks and discrimination against persons with albinism.”

Eventually, the United Nations’ General Assembly (UNGA), on December 18, 2014, established June 13 as International Albinism Awareness Day. The celebration has taken place since 2015 as International Albinism Awareness Day.

Albinism was a serious problem in Tanzania during the mid-2000s. The country is believed to be having the highest percentage of albinos living.

Hundreds of them have been brutally murdered and mutilated in the African country in the past decades. Local superstitions claim their body parts can bring luck and prosperity.

Another widespread rumor is that albinos are evil spirits. The Tanzania Albinism Society (TAS) and other NGOs campaigned for the human rights of albinos.  

Exp. Mumbai Traffic Police Declare ‘No Honking Day’ On June 14

Mumbai Police’s Traffic Control Branch has taken a significant step to address the issue of noise pollution and its detrimental effects on public health.

They have announced the observance of a ‘No Honking Day’ on June 14, aimed at curbing the unnecessary use of vehicle horns.

With noise pollution causing harm to both the environment and human health, the police are urging motorists to positively respond to this initiative by refraining from honking their horns.

The Mumbai Police advised all motorists to ensure that their vehicle horns meet the guidelines specified in Rule 119 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989.

Q.15. World Blood Donor Day is an annual event celebrated on June 14.  What is the theme of World Blood Donor Day?

विश्व रक्तदाता दिवस 14 जून को मनाया जाने वाला एक वार्षिक आयोजन है। विश्व रक्तदाता दिवस की थीम क्या है?

(a) Donating blood is an act of solidarity. Join the effort and save lives

(b) Give blood and keep the world beating

(c) Safe blood saves lives

(d) Safe blood for all

(e) Give blood, give plasma, share life, share often

Exp. 14 June - World Blood Donor Day

World Blood Donor Day is an annual event celebrated on June 14.

Objective - To raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products and to thank voluntary, unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood.

Theme 2023 - Give blood, give plasma, share life, share often

The day was first officially designated by the World Health Assembly in 2005, and it has been celebrated annually ever since.

Blood helps transport oxygen and nutrients to the lungs, forms blood clots to prevent excess blood loss apart from performing many other important function.

It is important to get access to safe blood free from infections and diseases and thus people who are in good health must donate blood regularly to not just help save lives and also transfusion-dependent patients but also to avail all the benefits of donating blood for their own physical and mental health.

Exp. Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi passes away

Former Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi passed away at the age of 86.

Berlusconi previously served as Prime Minister of Italy four times, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011.

Berlusconi’s centre-right Forza Italia party went into coalition under right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni last September.

About Italy

• Capital- Rome
• Currency- Euro
• President- Sergio Mattarella
• Prime Minister- Georgia Meloni