Current Affairs Quiz 1st and 2nd April 2023 Quiz

Exp. 2nd Tourism Working Group meeting begins in Siliguri

The second G20 Tourism Working Group (TWG) meeting will be held in West Bengal’s Siliguri and Darjeeling from 1-3 April 2023.

This meeting will carry a message about the prospects and potential of the North Eastern part of India.

The meeting is to be attended by more than 130 Delegates from the G20 Member Countries, Invitee Countries, and International Organizations along with Tourism Industry partners, State Tourism, and local tour operators.

The main aim behind holding this meeting at Siliguri is to showcase the typical features of the area, tea ploughing to the foreign delegates as well as to expose the opportunities for adventure tourism and local art and culture.

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

• 1st Tourism Working Group (TWG) Meeting – Dhordo in Rann of Kutch, Gujarat (7 – 9 February 2023)
• First G20 Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group Meeting – Gandhinagar, Gujarat (30 March – 1 April 2023)
• 2nd G20 Sherpas Meeting – Kumarakom, Kerala (30 March to 2 April 2023)
• 2nd G20 Infrastructure Working Group Meeting – Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh (28 – 29 March 2023)
• 2nd G20 Framework Working Group Meeting – Chennai, Tamil Nadu (24 -25 March 2023)

Exp. India’s agricultural exports grow by 6.04%during April-Jan 2022-23

India’s agricultural exports rose 6.04 percent during April-January of the current financial year to worth USD 43.37 billion. During the same period last year, it was USD 40.90 billion.

During the full financial year 2021-22, India’s agricultural exports touched the highest ever at USD 50.21 billion.

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) engages in export promotion activities for agricultural and processed food products.

Exp. India’s unemployment rate rises to 3-month high of 7.8% in March 2023

According to the data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), India’s unemployment rate increased to 7.8% in March 2023, marking a three-month high and indicating a decline in the country’s labor market conditions.

The unemployment rate in the country surged in December 2022 to 8.30 percent but declined in January to 7.14 percent. It edged up again in February to 7.45 percent.

In March, the unemployment rate in urban areas of India reached 8.4%, while in rural areas it stood at 7.5 percent.

In March, unemployment was the highest in Haryana at 26.8 percent. It was closely followed by Rajasthan at 26.4 percent, Jammu and Kashmir at 23.1 percent, Sikkim 20.7 percent, Bihar 17.6 percent and Jharkhand 17.5 percent.

Exp. Finland became the 31st member of NATO

Finland has become the 31st member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Turkey’s unanimous vote played a key role in Finland’s acceptance as a NATO member.

Finland shares a long border of over 1,340 kilometers with Russia, and its decision to join NATO was prompted by security concerns following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

However, Sweden’s application to join NATO has been declined by Turkey and Hungary.

About Finland

• Capital- Helsinki
• Currency- Euro
• Prime Minister- Sanna Marin

About North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

• Founded – 1949
• Headquarters – Brussels, Belgium
• Secretary General- Jens Stoltenberg
• Founding Members – United States, Canada, and ten European countries, including Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the United Kingdom.
• NATO is a military alliance between North American and European countries.

Exp. World Bank announces $100 million as loan Odisha

The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank has approved a USD 100 million loan to Odisha.

Purpose – To robust its early forecasting systems for improved response to disasters and enhance its social protection coverage for poor and vulnerable households through digital platforms.

Odisha is vulnerable to natural disasters with cyclones hitting the state every 15 months on average.

About World Bank

• Founded – 1944
• Headquarters – Washington Dc
• President – Ajay Banga
• MD & CFO – Anshula Kant
• Chief Economist – Carman Reinhart
• Executive Director – Rajesh Khullar
• Member Countries -189
• World Bank Group – 5 (IBRD, IDA, IFC, MIGA and ICSID)

Exp. India Post Payments Bank launched WhatsApp Banking Services

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) in collaboration with Airtel has launched WhatsApp Banking Services to provide easy and convenient banking services to its customers.

With this new service, customers can now easily access various banking services from their WhatsApp account.

Airtel has been working with IPPB to deliver as many as 250 million messages per month to the bank’s customers many of whom are located in mofussil towns and Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

The addition of WhatsApp messaging will increase customers accessibility to connect with the bank at their fingertips, furthering Digital India mission of the Government, as part of which IPPB has been working tirelessly to deliver banking services in the rural pockets of the country.

IPPB is a public sector bank that was launched in 2018 with the aim of providing banking services to the unbanked population of India. With the launch of WhatsApp Banking Services, the bank aims to further expand its reach and provide banking services to a wider audience.

About India Post Payments Bank (IPPB)

• Founded – 1 September 2018
• Headquarters – New Delhi
• MD & CEO – J Venkatramu
• Tagline – Aapka Bank, Aapke Dwaar

Recent MoUs Signed in Banking Sector

• IDFC First Bank joined hands with Crunchfish to facilitate offline payments
• Axis Bank partnered with ITC to offer rural lending products
• YES Bank, Aadhar Housing Finance enter into co-lending partnership
• Ujivan Small Finance Bank partnered with Max Life Insurance to offer life insurance offerings to customers.

• Saraswat Bank partnered with Tagit to deploy omnichannel banking

Exp. GST revenue collection increases 13% to Rs 1.60 lakh crore in March 2023

India’s GST revenue collection for March 2023 stood at 1.6 lakh crore rupees, which is 13% higher than the GST revenues in March 2022.

It is for the fourth time, in the current financial year that the gross GST collection has crossed 1.5 lakh crore rupees, since the implementation of GST.

Out of the total collection, CGST is 29,546 crore rupees, SGST is 37,314 crore rupees and IGST is 82,907 crore rupees, including ₹42,503 crores collected on import of goods.

While cess contributed 10,355 crore rupees, including 960 crore rupees collected on import of goods.

Meanwhile, the total gross collection for the year 2022-23 stands at 18.10 lakh crore rupees, while the average gross monthly collection for the full year is 1.51 lakh crore rupees.

GST Collection of Previous Months

• November 2022 – 1,45,867 crore
• December 2022- 1,49,507 crore
• January 2023 – 1,55,922 crore
• February 2023 – 1,49,577 crore
• March 2023 – 1,60,122 crore

Exp. Government hikes interest rates of small savings schemes

The government has raised interest rates on most post office saving schemes by up to 0.7 percent for the April-June 2023 quarter.

While the interest rates for popular PPF and savings deposits have been retained at 7.1 percent and 4 percent, respectively, there has been an increase between 0.1 percent and 0.7 percent in other saving schemes.

The highest increase was in the interest rate of the National Savings Certificate (NSC), which will now attract 7.5 percent, up from 7 percent, for the April 1 to June 30, 2023 period.

The new rate for the girl child savings scheme Sukanya Samriddhi has been increased to 8 percent from 7.6 percent.

The interest rate on the senior citizen savings scheme and Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) is 8.2 percent (up from 8 percent) and 7.5 percent (up from 7.2 percent), respectively.

KVP will now mature in 115 months as against 120 months earlier.

Exp. Hero MotoCorp’s Board appoints Niranjan Gupta as new CEO

India’s largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp Ltd has announced that its board has appointed Niranjan Gupta as the new chief executive officer (CEO) of the company, effective from 1 May 2023.

Niranjan Gupta is currently the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Head of Strategy and M&A.

Dr. Pawan Munjal will continue as Executive Chairman and Whole-time Director on the board.

The board of Hero Motocorp has appointed Niranjan Gupta as the new CEO with effect from May 1, 2023.

Recent Appointment

• President of ASSOCHAM – Ajay Singh
• Vice President of ASSOCHAM – Sanjay Nair
• Independent Directors of NDTV – UK Sinha & Dipali Goenka
• CFO of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) – Srikanth Venkatachari
• CEO of Starbucks – Laxman Narasimhan

Exp. Praveer Sinha re-appointed as CEO and MD of Tata Power

Tata Power has re-appointed Praveer Sinha as the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director.

His present tenure as a CEO and MD is scheduled to conclude on April 30, 2023.

Currently, He is also serving as the Chairman of the CII Western Region council and co-chairs the CII National Committee on Power.

He has also contributed to setting up the first international incubator in India for promoting innovations in the clean energy space.

Recent Appointment

• MD & CEO CEAT – Arnab Banerjee
• MD & CEO of Invest India – Manmeet K Nanda
• CMD of Cotton Corporation of India – Lalit Kumar Gupta
• ‘Order of Australia’ for bolstering bilateral ties – Ratan Tata
• CMD of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) – G Krishnakumar

Exp. Aravindh Chithambaram wins Delhi International Open chess title

Aravindh Chithambaram has won the Delhi International Open chess title.

Aravindh, who aggregated a massive 9.5 points from 10 rounds, collected Rs 6 lakh and the winner’s trophy from an event that offered Rs 45 lakh in prize money.

Georgia’s Luka Paichadze took the second spot with nine points and gained Rs 5 lakh

Aravindh Chithambaram Veerappan is an Indian chess grandmaster.

He won the Indian chess championships twice, in 2018 and 2019. He earned his international master title in 2014 and his grandmaster title in 2015.

Exp. Ministry of Defence Rs 1700 crore deal with BrahMos Aerospace

Ministry of Defence has inked a Rs 1,700 crore contract with BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited (BAPL) for procurement of next-generation maritime mobile coastal batteries and BrahMos missiles.

These systems will be equipped with supersonic BrahMos missiles and will significantly enhance the multi-directional maritime strike capability of the Indian Navy.

BAPL is a joint venture between India and Russia making crucial contribution to augment the new generation surface-to-surface missile with enhanced ranges.

This contract is going to give further boost to the indigenous production of critical weapon systems and ammunition with active participation of indigenous industries.

This project will generate employment of more than 90,000 man-days over a period of four years.

The delivery of these batteries is scheduled to commence from 2027.

Recent MoU

• NTPC signed MoU with Indian Army for implementation of Green Hydrogen Projects
• GAIL signed MoU with Shell Energy India on ethane sourcing
• NTPC Green Energy Limited (NGEL) signed Agreement with IOCL for setting up of renewable energy projects
• BPCL signed an MoU with Brazilian oil company Petrobras to diversify crude oil sourcing
• FuelBuddy partnered with IOCL for doorstep delivery of automotive lubricants

Exp. 10th Bilateral Maritime exercise SLINEX-2023 will be conducted in Colombo

The 10th Edition of the annual Indian – Sri Lanka Bilateral Maritime exercise, SLINEX-2023 was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The exercise is being conducted in two phases of three days each, the Harbour Phase followed by Sea Phase.

The Indian Navy will be represented by INS Kiltan and INS Savitri while Sri Lanka Navy will have SLNS Vijayabahu and SLNS Samudura.

SLINEX-2023 will aim to enhance inter-operability, improve mutual understanding and exchange best practices and procedures in multi-faceted Maritime operations between both Navies.

Recent Exercise

• India & UK hold joint maritime exercise ‘Konkan’ in Arabian Sea

• The 10-day Africa-India Field Training Exercise (AFINDEX 2023) organized in Pune

• 3rd edition of the Sea Dragon exercises started between India and USA
• The 13th edition EX Bold Kurukshetra, between India and Singapore was concluded at Jodhpur Military Station, India.
• The third edition of the multilateral exercise ‘La Perouse’ between navies of India, US, Japan, France, UK and Australia held in the Indian Ocean Region.

Exp. 1 April – Odisha Day or Utkal Day

Odisha Day or Utkala Divas is celebrated on 1st April.

This day is significant for the people of Odisha as it marks the formation of the state on 1st April, 1936.

Odisha has its 88th foundation day on 1st April 2023.

Odisha came into existence back in the year 1936, over a decade before India became independent of the British Raj.

Odisha was previously part of the Bengal Presidency, but it was carved out as an independent state following a 3-decade-long struggle by the local people.

Exp. 31 March – International Drug Checking Day

International Drug Checking Day is observed every year on 31 March.

Objective – To promote harm reduction initiatives to reduce the risks associated with drug use and educate people about drugs and their effects.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 11.8 million deaths were linked to drug abuse in 2017, and more and more teenagers are falling prey to substance abuse.

The International Day of Drug Checking is an effort to collectively reduce drug abuse and create a drug-free world.