Current Affairs Quiz 28th and 29th January 2023 Quiz

Exp. Government renamed Delhi’s Mughal Gardens as ‘Amrit Udyan’

The Central government has renamed the Mughal Gardens in New Delhi’s Rashtrapati Bhavan as ‘Amrit Udyan’.

In keeping with the theme of ‘Amrit Mahotsav’ to commemorate 75 years of India’s independence, the Union Government has renamed the Mughal Gardens as Amrit Udyan.

On the occasion of ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’, the President of India has given a common name to Rashtrapati Bhavan Gardens as Amrit Udyan.

Designed in 1917, the gardens spread over 15 acres are also known as the “soul of the presidential palace.

The Central Government had last year renamed Delhi’s iconic Rajpath as “Kartavya Path”.

Exp. Luminous to build India’s first green solar panel factory in Uttarakhand

Luminous Power Technologies has announced its plan to build the country’s first green energy-based solar panel manufacturing factory in Uttarakhand.

The new manufacturing plant located in Rudrapur is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2023.

This state-of-the-art facility will be equipped with the latest technology to design and produce high-quality solar panels that will be used for both residential and commercial applications.

Once operational, the facility, spread across 4.5 lakh square feet/10 acres will help enable a solar production capacity of 500 MW per annum, expandable up to 1 GW, producing a range of solar panels with a power output of 40W to 600W.

This solar panel facility is fully robotic and will use 100 percent energy from solar power, he noted.

CEO and Managing Director of Luminous Power Technologies – Preeti Bajaj

About Uttarakhand

• Capital – Dehradun (Winter), Gairsain (Summer)
• Chief Minister – Pushkar Singh Dhami
• Governor – Gurmit Singh

Exp. PM Modi addressed 1111th Avataran Mahotsav of Bhagwan Devnarayan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has addressed the ceremony commemorating the 1111th ‘Avataran Mahotsav’ of Bhagwan Shri Devnarayan Ji in Bhilwara, Rajasthan.

Bhagwan Shri Devnarayan Ji was born in the family of a popular Mandalji Gurjar who established the famous Mandal Lake near Bhilwara district in Mewar.

Devnarayan was a mighty warrior who fought many battles and wars against tyrannical rulers. He was also a ruler.

Devnarayan is worshipped as an incarnation of Vishnu by the Gujjar community as a folk deity in Rajasthan and South-Western Madhya Pradesh.

About Rajasthan

• Capital – Jaipur
• Chief Minister – Ashok Gehlot
• Governor – Kalraj Mishra

PM Modi in News

• PM Modi launched several development projects in Karnataka, Maharashtra
• PM Modi inaugurated 2nd phase of Saansad Khel Mahakumbh 2022-23 in Basti District of Uttar Pradesh
• PM Modi virtually flagged off the 8th Vande Bharata Express train connecting Secunderabad with Vishakhapatnam.
• PM Modi announced the “Aarogya Maitri” project during the Voice of Global South Summit
• PM Modi inaugurated 26th National Youth Festival at Hubbali in Karnataka
• PM Modi virtually inaugurated the 7th edition of the Global Investors Summit in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

Exp. Woxsen University launched Project Aspiration in Telangana for girls

Woxsen University has launched Project Aspiration to empower adolescent girls of standards IX-XII of Model Schools and Junior Colleges of Telangana.

Under the Project, the school principal selected a few deserving students to participate in the ‘Train the Trainer’ workshop, which commenced in Dec 2022.

Over 3 weeks of training sessions, the girls were exposed to different aspects of future, developing SMART goals & learnt how to work towards achieving them.

Professors from different schools at Woxsen briefed the students on various avenues of higher education and career opportunities. Anubha Jain, Counsellor at Woxsen University acquainted them with important concepts of mental health and counselling.

The Project Aspiration team has organized various debates and discussed crucial social issues to open up young minds.

About Telangana

• Capital – Hyderabad
• Chief Minister – K. Chandrashekar Rao
• Governor – Tamilisai Soundararajan

Exp. Sonowal inaugurated NLP-Marine, a portal to reduce logistics cost

Union Minister for Ports, Shipping, and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal has inaugurated National Logistics Portal (Marine).

The National Logistic Portal (marine) (NLP) is a project of national importance, as envisaged by the Ministry of Ports Shipping Waterways and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

NLP will be a single window for all trade processes of the logistics sector spread across the country covering all modes of transport in the waterways, roadways, and airways along with an e-marketplace to provide a seamless end-to-end logistic service coverage,” he said.

The portal is a one-step platform aimed at connecting all the stakeholders of the logistics community using Information Technology to improve efficiency and transparency by reducing costs and time delays.

The portal aims to reduce regulatory complexities and enhance the ease of doing business by moving towards user-friendly paperless trade.

Sarbananda Sonowal in News

• Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated School of Logistics, Waterways, and Communication in Agartala, Tripura.
• Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated ‘Ayush Utsav’ in Kashmir
• Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated Unani Institute in Silchar

Exp. Government to hand over 1,000 sites to private sector under Monument Scheme

The government will hand over around 1,000 monuments under the control of the Archaeological Survey of India to the private sector for their upkeep under the Monument Mitra Scheme, announced by the Ministry of Culture.

Corporate entities will take over these monuments as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility. Under the scheme, monument amenities will be revamped by the private sector.

The government has set the target to hand over 500 sites under the revamped Monument Mitra Scheme by the end of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav on 15 August 2023

This Monument Mitra Scheme had been started some years back under the Ministry of Tourism. Now the Ministry of Tourism has transferred the scheme to the Ministry of Culture in respect of the monuments under the Archaeological Survey of India.

Exp. Canada to commercialize world’s first photonic-based Quantum Computer

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced to commercialize the world’s first photonic-based, fault-tolerant quantum computer.

The investment of 40 million Canadian dollars will enable Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc. to develop the quantum computer which will help solve complex data problems and could be used in finance, transportation, and health.

This project of 177.8 million Canadian dollars ($142 million) is expected to create 530 new highly skilled positions in the high-tech and quantum computing fields.

Founded in 2016, Xanadu, with the mission to build quantum computers that are useful and available to people everywhere, leads the development of PennyLane, an open-source software library for quantum computing and application development.

About Canada

• Capital – Ottawa
• Currency – Dollar
• President – Justin Trudeau

Exp. UN cuts India’s Economic Growth Forecast by 20 bps to 5.8% for 2023

The United Nations (UN) has cut its GDP growth forecast for India for the calendar year 2023 to 5.8 percent, citing the effect of tighter monetary policy and weak global demand.

Growth in India is expected to remain strong at 5.8%, albeit slightly lower than the estimated 6.4% in 2022, as higher interest rates and a global slowdown weigh on investment and exports.

The government’s first advance estimate for growth in this financial year is 7 percent.

The report projected India’s retail inflation to decelerate to 5.5 percent in 2023 from 7.1 percent in 2022 as global commodity prices moderate and slower currency depreciation eases imported inflation.

Updated GDP List

• World Bank – 6.9% (FY23)
• MOODY’S. – 7% (FY23)
• S&P – 7% (FY23), 6% (FY24)
• IMF – 6.8% (FY23), 6.1% (FY24)
• ADB – 7% (FY23), 7.2% (FY24)
• RBI – 6.8% (FY23)
• India Ratings – 6.9% (FY23)
• FITCH RATING – 7% (FY23), 6.7% (FY24)
• FICCI – 7% (FY23), 6.4% (FY24)
• OECD – 6.6% (FY23), 5.7% (FY24)
• CRISIL – 7% (FY23), 6% (FY24)
• UN – 5.8 % (FY23)
• NSO – 7%
• SBI – 6.8% (FY23)
• Morgan Stanley – 7.2% (FY23), 6.4%(FY24)
• Nomura – 7.2% (FY23)
• UNTCAD – 5.7% (FY23)
• Goldman Sachs – 5.9% (FY23)

Exp. Indian-American astronaut Chari named for US Air Force Brigadier Gen

Indian-American astronaut Raja Chari has been nominated by US President Joe Biden for the post of Air Force brigadier general.

Chari is currently serving as the Crew-3 commander and astronaut, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Johnson Space Center, Texas USA.

In the past, Chari was one of the four astronauts aboard the SpaceX spacecraft that successfully docked with the orbiting lab in May of the previous year.

The Crew Dragon and Crew-3 missions were both under Chari’s command. From takeoff until landing, he was in charge of the entire operation

Recent Appointment

• North Korea human rights envoy by US President – Julie Turner
• Maryland’s first Indian-American Lt. Governor – Aruna Miller
• First LGBTQ woman of colour city council in the US state of California – Janani Ramachandran
• CEO of Vedanta’s Cairn Oil & Gas – Nick Walker
• Chief Economist of OECD – Clare Lombardelli (UK)

• Director of Meta’s Global Business Group in India – Vikas Purohit

Exp. New Zealand to introduce Debbie H. Medal to honour women cricketers

New Zealand Cricket has announced the introduction of the Debbie Hockley Medal to honor the outstanding female cricketer.

Cricketer Debbie Hockley played 19 Tests and 118 ODIs for New Zealand from 1979 to 2000.

Hockley was the fourth woman to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame, in 2013.

New Zealand awards the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal for the outstanding male cricketer of the year

Exp. M Yeoh becomes first Asian to bag Oscar nomination for Best Actress

Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian to bag an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her movie “The ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once”.

Malaysian descent, Michelle Yeoh has also won the Golden Globe Award in the Best Actress category for her performance in the movie ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once.’

She was also nominated for the Gotham Independent Film Awards 2022.

Recent Awards

• Subhash Chandra Bose Disaster Management Award 2023 – Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) & Lunglei Fire Station (LFS)
• Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia Lifetime Achievement Award – Dr. Prabha Atre

• Gaja Capital Business Book Prize 2022 – Harish Damodaran
• Most distinguished scientist of the year 2022 – R Vishnu Prassad
• Golden Kailasha award at 8th Ajanta-Ellora FF – Naanera (Rajasthani film)

Exp. Aasif become the 1st Nepali cricketer to win the ICC Spirit of Cricket

Nepal wicketkeeper Aasif Sheikh has been awarded the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award for 2022 after his selfless decision to refuse the run-out of Ireland’s Andy McBrine in their T20I match in the Oman Quadrangular Series back in February.

Sheikh’s incredible gesture in the cricketing field saw Balbirnie safely reach the striker’s end after that batter had taken a tumble while running.

Aasif thus becomes the first player from Nepal to win the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award.

The award is annually awarded by the ICC to recognize the player or team upholding the spirit of the game.

Exp. England’s Ben Stokes and Nat Sciver won ICC annual awards

England Test captain Ben Stokes and England all-rounder Nat Sciver have won ICC cricketer of the year 2022 awards.

All-rounder Stokes has been named Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year while Sciver won the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year.

Sciver, 30, is also named Women’s one-day international (ODI) Cricketer of the Year.

The 31-year-old Stokes took over the Test captaincy from Joe Root in April 2022 and has won nine of his 10 Tests in charge.

ICC awards winners for 2022

• Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy- Babar Azam (Pakistan)
• Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy- Nat Sciver (England)
• Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year- Ben Stokes (England)
• Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year- Babar Azam (Pakistan)
• Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year- Nat Sciver (England)
• Men’s T20 International Cricketer of the Year- Suryakumar Yadav (India)
• Women’s T20 International Cricketer of the Year- Tahlia McGrath (Australia)
• Men’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year- Marco Jansen (South Africa)
• Women’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year- Renuka Singh (India)
• Men’s Associate Cricketer of the Year- Gerhard Erasmus (Namibia)
• Women’s Associate Cricketer of the Year- Esha Oza (India)
• David Shepherd Trophy- Richard Illingworth (England)
• Spirit of Cricket Award- Aasif Sheikh (Nepal)

Exp. Arina Sabalenka won the Australian Open title

Arina Sabalenka of Belarus has won the women’s singles title by defeating Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in the Australian Open 2023.

Sabalenka has won the Grand Slam title for the first time, while Rybakina missed out on winning the Grand Slam for the second time.

Sabalenka defeated Elena Rybakina 4–6, 6–3, 6–4 in the final match played at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.

While the Brazilian duo of Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos won the Mixed Doubles title.

The Brazilian pair defeated the Indian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza 7-6, 6-2 at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.

Mirza was the first Indian to win a WTA singles title in her hometown Hyderabad in 2005.

Exp. 27 January – International Holocaust Remembrance Day

International Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed every year on 27 January.

This day is observed to reflect on the atrocities inflicted by Adolf Hitler, which resulted in the deaths of an estimated six million Jews.

Theme 2023 – Home and Belonging

The day commemorates the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in January 1945 from Nazi control.

The Holocaust was Nazi Germany’s “Final Solution” for eliminating all Jewish people.