Current Affairs Quiz 28th December 2023 Quiz

Exp. TCIL pays Rs 14.20 crore dividend to the Government for FY 2022-23

Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd (TCIL) has paid a dividend of Rs 14.20 crore to the government for Financial Year 2022-23.

Since its inception, the TCIL has been a consistently profit-making Company. It has so far paid dividend of Rs 294.19 crore to the Government till FY 2022-23.

The dividend is on Government’s initial investment in equity of Rs 0.3 Crore. Rs16 crore was further infused during 2015-16. The group and standalone net worth of the company are Rs 1,712.00 crore and Rs 618.56 crore respectively as on 31st March 2023.

In FY 2022-23, the TCIL achieved a revenue growth of 25 per cent over previous year with total Standalone revenue and profit after tax of Rs 2,001.7 crore and Rs 35.50 crore respectively.

Established in August, 1978, TCIL is a Mini Ratna Category – I Status Company under the Department of Telecommunications of the Ministry of Communications. Government of India holds 100 per cent of its share capital.

It is a prime engineering and consultancy company which undertakes projects in all field of Telecommunications, IT and Civil construction in India and abroad. The TCIL has executed projects in over 70 countries across globe.

The Company is also executing high value Government of India prestigious projects of Rural ICT for Department of Posts, NFS for Defence, Navy Network, Bharatnet Project for APSFL, Telangana Fiber, BBNL VSAT, Indian Coast Guard, MHA, CCTV Surveillance Projects for  State Police, Smart Cities, Railways, e-education and e-Health Projects, etc.

Chairman & Managing Director of TCIL Shri Sanjeev Kumar

Exp. PM Narendra Modi becomes first world leader to have 20 million YouTube subscribers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s YouTube channel has achieved a significant milestone by surpassing 20 million subscriptions, making it the most subscribed channel among top global leaders.

The second-ranking leader is former Brazilian President Jair Bolsanora, whose subscriber count stands at a modest 6.4 million, merely a fraction of Modi’s.

The third most-subscribed channel among world leaders is the Ukraine President is far behind at 1.1 million. Whereas fourth on the list, United States President Joe Biden has a subscriber count of only 794,000 on his YouTube channel.

Moreover, when it comes to views, Modi’s channel continues to dominate, recording an impressive 2.24 billion views in December 2023. This figure is an astonishing 43 times higher than that of Zelenskyy, who holds the second-highest number of views globally.

Some other world leaders with the highest YouTube subscribers are Turkey’s Reccep Tayip Erdogan with 419,000 subscribers, France’s Emmanuel Macron with 316,000 subscribers, Argentina’s Alberto Fernández with 81,200 subscribers and Canada’s Justine Trudeau with 69,600 subscribers.

PM Modi’s YouTube channel crossed 10 million subscribers in February 2022.

Exp. India, Russia ink pacts on construction of future power units

India and Russia have signed some “very important” agreements related to the construction of the future power-generating units of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant.

The Kudankulam nuclear power plant, India’s largest, is being built in Tamil Nadu with the technical assistance of Russia.

The construction began in March 2002. Since February 2016, the first power unit of the Kudankulam NPP has been steadily operating at its design capacity of 1,000 MW.

The plant is expected to start operating at full capacity in 2027.

Recently India signed MoUs with others countries

• India provides $250 million Line of Credit to Kenya for agricultural modernisation
• India and US sign MoU to connect dynamic startup ecosystems
• India and UAE sign MoU to Strengthen Educational Ties
• Cabinet approves pact between India & Japan on Semiconductor Supply Chain
• India and Tanzania agree on 5-year roadmap for defence cooperation

Exp. KSRTC Unveils ‘Namma Cargo’ Logistics In Karnataka

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has entered into logistics business under the brand name “Namma Cargo’ to carry parcels in KSRTC route buses.

The deployment of 20 cargo trucks to kickstart the ‘Namma Cargo’ services in various districts across the state.

The Namma Cargo trucks have GPS for goods transportation.

Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with KMS Coach Builders Private Limited for lending its cargo trucks services on a rental basis for two months.

To Namma Cargo services inducted 100 trucks in a month while the number of cargo trucks will go upto 500 in a year. To begin with, Basaveshwara bus station at Peenya in Bengaluru city will be used as a depot for operation and maintenance of cargo trucks.

About Karnataka

• Capital – Bengaluru
• Chief Minister –Siddaramaiah
• Deputy Chief Minister – DK Shivakumar
• Governor – Thawar Chand Gehlot

Exp. Ayodhya Train Station Renamed As Ayodhya Dham

The Ayodhya railway junction in Uttar Pradesh has been officially renamed as Ayodhya Dham junction.

The redeveloped station is set to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi on December 30 in Ayodhya, before the highly anticipated consecration ceremony at the Ram temple on January 22.

The Ayodhya Dham Railway Station is undergoing development in three phases. The first phase has been successfully completed.

The station, with a total cost of ₹430 crore, is designed to accommodate up to 100,000 passengers. Its architecture blends modern solutions with the aesthetics of traditional Indian temple architecture.

This station stands out for its well-planned facilities that go beyond typical railway stations, with special attention to services like the Infant Care Room for babies and a dedicated sick room for first aid. The station also has a passenger facilities desk, tourist information centre, and the country’s largest concourse.

The first floor will host the country’s largest concourse once all three phases are complete, covering an impressive 7,200 square metres. You will find additional facilities like a food plaza, waiting hall, toilets, drinking water stations, escalators, lifts, staff rooms, shops, waiting rooms, and an entry footbridge.

The middle floor includes various facilities such as retiring rooms, dormitories, lodging rooms, and spaces for station staff.

About Uttar Pradesh

• Capital – Lucknow
• Chief Minister – Yogi Adityanath
• Governor – Anandiben Patel

Exp. Muthoot FinCorp raises ₹200 crore from SBI via NCDs

Muthoot FinCorp, the flagship company of the 136-year-old Muthoot Pappachan Group (Muthoot Blue), has raised ₹200 crore from State Bank of India, via the private placement of non-convertible debentures (NCDs).

The debt securities have a five-year maturity and half-yearly frequency for interest payment. They are rated ‘AA’ by Crisil with a ‘stable’ outlook.

Proceeds of this will be utilised for onward lending, business operations and further expansion and growth plan.

The NBFC has over 3,600 branches across India and offers gold loans, Vyapar Mitra business loans, two-wheeler loans, used car loans, home Loans, loan against property, domestic and international money transfer, foreign exchange, Insurance, and wealth management services.

CEO of Muthoot FinCorp – Shaji Varghese

Exp. Current account gap narrows to 1% of GDP at $8.3 bn in Q2FY24: RBI

India’s current account deficit declined sharply to 1 percent of the GDP or $8.3 billion in the second quarter of this financial year, mainly due to lower merchandise trade deficit and growth in services exports, according to RBI data.

The current account deficit (CAD) was 3.8 percent of GDP or $30.9 billion in the July-September quarter in 2022-23.

CAD was $9.2 billion or 1.1 percent of GDP in the first quarter (April-June) of the current financial year 2023-24.

Underlying the lower current account deficit on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis in Q2:2023-24 was the narrowing of merchandise trade deficit to $61.0 billion from $78.3 billion in Q2:2022-23.

Services exports grew by 4.2 percent on a y-o-y basis on the back of rising exports of software, business, and travel services.

Net services receipts increased both sequentially and on a y-o-y basis.

Exp. Kartik Aaryan signed as Brand Ambassador for Football

Sony Sports Network has roped in Bollywood actor and youth icon Kartik Aaryan, who is known to be an avid football follower, as their brand ambassador for football.

Kartik will be seen promoting the footballing action on the Sony Sports Network, which will be home to the UEFA EURO 2024, the UEFA Champions League, the Bundesliga and more for the year ahead.

This strategic partnership aims to bring football closer to a wider Indian audience and ignite passion for the sport across generations.

Recent Brand Ambassador

• Amrita Raichand – Health Ambassador for Salaam Bombay Foundation
• Sourav Ganguly – Tripura Tourism
• R Madhavan – The insurtech company Acko
• Pankaj Tripathi – UPI Safety Ambassador
• MS Dhoni – State bank of India

Exp. Bisleri signed Deepika Padukone as it’s Global Brand Ambassador

Bisleri, India’s leading mineral water brand has roped in Global Indian Icon Deepika Padukone as its first-ever global brand ambassador in the new campaign Bisleri #DrinkItUp.

The campaign is a fresh and never seen before take on hydration infusing excitement and fun. The ad film showcases Padukone grooving to a snappy and modern take on the iconic song ‘Jhoom Jhoom Jhoom Baba’ while relishing the pure refreshment of the original beverage, ‘water’.

The campaign will be promoted across multiple platforms, including TV, digital, and OTT platforms.

The Bisleri #DrinkItUp campaign has been shot by Nirvana Films and directed by ace director Prakash Verma while Bisleri’s association with Deepika Padukone was managed by Wavemaker and GroupM ESP.

Recent Brand Ambassador

• Katrina Kaif – Swiss Watchmaker ‘Rado’
• Chetan Bhagat – Henry Harvin Education
• Mahendra Singh Dhoni – Lay’s
• Mohammed Shami – Sports brand Puma
• Neeraj Chopra – Laureus Ambassador

Exp. CS Rajan appointed as part-time chairman of Kotak Mahindra Bank

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the appointment of C S Rajan, an independent director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, as its part-time chairman for a period of two years, with effect from January 1, 2024.

Rajan’s appointment follows the retirement of the incumbent non-executive independent part-time chairman, Prakash Apte, whose term expires on December 31, 2023.

Rajan is a successful leader with over 40 years of experience across significant government portfolios. An IAS officer of 1978 batch, he was appointed as an Independent Director on the Board of Kotak Mahindra Bank, with effect from October 22, 2022.

In October 2018, Rajan was appointed by the government to the Board of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) initially as Director, thereafter as Managing Director for a period of three and half years, then as Chairman & Managing Director for a year and, since then, he has been serving as the Non-Executive Chairman of IL&FS.

About Kotak Mahindra Bank

• Founded – 2003
• Founders – Uday Kotak
• Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Chairman – CS Rajan (replace Prakash Apte)
• MD & CEO – Ashok Vaswani

Recent Appointment in Banking & Insurance Sector

• Interim MD & CEO of North East SFB – Satish Kumar Kalra
• Chairman of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) – Pramod Agrawal (replace SS Mundra)
• Executive Director (ED) of ICICI Bank – Sandeep Batra
• CEO of Indifi Technologies – Sangram Singh
• Part-time member of PFRDA Board – Parama Sen (replace Anne George)

Exp. Devendra Fadnavis Conferred Honorary Doctorate By Japanese University

Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was conferred an honorary doctorate by Japan’s Koyasan University.

The university conferred the doctorate on Fadnavis to recognise his efforts in creating basic civic infrastructure, implementing schemes such as the Jalyukta Shivar Yojana, and his contribution to the industrial development of the state.

In 2015, while he was the chief minister of Maharashtra, Fadnavis inaugurated a statue of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar at the Buddhist study centre of the university in Japan.

Recent Awards

• National Energy Conservation Award 2023 – Karnataka
• SASTRA Ramanujan Award 2022 -Yunqing Tang
• SASTRA Ramanujan Award 2023 – Ruixiang Zhang
• 6th Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize – Sukrita Paul Kumar (for Salt & Pepper)
• Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize for Social Achievement – Abhijit Banerjee
• Most Energy Efficient Appliance of the Year – Crompton Electricals

Q.12. Eight-year-old A.S. Sharvaanica become the champion in two formats of the Asian Youth Championships at Al Ain in the UAE. She is related to which sport?

आठ वर्षीय ए.एस. शारवानिका संयुक्त अरब अमीरात के अल ऐन में एशियाई युवा चैंपियनशिप के दो प्रारूपों में चैंपियन बनीं। वह किस खेल से संबंधित है?

(a) Tennis / टेनिस

(b) Chess / शतरंज

(c) Shooting / शूटिंग

(d) Wushu / वुशु

(e) Archery / तीरंदाजी

Exp. Sharvaanica becomes champion in two formats at Asian Youth Chess

Eight-year-old A.S. Sharvaanica has become the champion in two formats of the Asian Youth Chess Championships at Al Ain in the UAE.

She secured gold in the U-8 rapid and blitz categories, and silver in the U-8 classical category.

The 25th Asian Youth Chess Championships witnessed the participation across age groups of 42 players from 21 countries.

Q.13. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has constituted a three-member ad hoc committee to run the day-to-day affairs of suspended   WFI. Who will chair this committee?

भारतीय ओलंपिक संघ (आईओए) ने निलंबित डब्ल्यूएफआई के रोजमर्रा के मामलों को चलाने के लिए तीन सदस्यीय तदर्थ समिति का गठन किया है। इस समिति की अध्यक्षता कौन करेगा?

(a) Nidhi Khatri / निधि खत्री

(b) Sunil Bajpai / सुनील बाजपेयी

(c) Bhupinder Singh Bajwa / भूपिंदर सिंह बाजवा

(d) M S Sahoo / एम एस साहू

(e) P. T. Usha / पी. टी. उषा

Exp. Indian Olympic Association forms three-member ad hoc committee to run affairs of suspended WFI

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has constituted a three-member ad hoc committee to run the day-to-day affairs of the WFI after the Sports Ministry suspended the wrestling national body for not following the provisions of its own constitution while taking decisions.

Wushu Association of India president Bhupinder Singh Bajwa will be the chairman of the panel with hockey Olympian M. M. Somaya and former international shuttler Manjusha Kanwar being the other two members.

The Sports Ministry suspended the WFI, three days after it elected new office bearers with Brij Bhushan Singh loyalist Sanjay Singh as president, and also asked IOA to constitute an ad-hoc panel to manage the affairs of the sports body.

Mr. Bajwa was also one of the members of the ad hoc committee formed by the IOA in April to run the affairs of WFI and to conduct its elections. After repeated delays due to court cases, elections were finally held on December 21 with Brij Bhushan's close aide Mr. Sanjay winning the presidential poll.

Recent Committees

• IRDAI forms panel to simplify insurance policy wordings; chaired by -L Viswanathan
• One Nation, One Election Committee; chaired by - Ram Nath Kovind
• SEBI reconstitutes panel on alternative investment policy; chaired by - N R Narayana Murthy
• Government sets up high power committee to review DRDO; chaired by - Prof K Vijay Raghavan
• Government forms new panel to review all official data; chaired by - Pronab Sen

Q.14. Indian wrestler Pooja Dhanda has handed how many-year ban by India’s National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) due to three whereabouts failures?

भारतीय पहलवान पूजा ढांडा पर तीन ठिकाने विफलताओं के कारण भारत की राष्ट्रीय डोपिंग रोधी एजेंसी (NADA) द्वारा कितने साल का प्रतिबंध लगाया गया है?

(a) one-year

(b) two-year

(c) three-year

(d) four-year

(e) five-year

Exp. Wrestler Pooja Dhanda handed one-year ban by NADA

Indian wrestler Pooja Dhanda, who won the bronze medal at the 2018 World Championships in the 57kg, was handed a one-year ban by India’s National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) due to three whereabouts failures.

NADA, formed in 2005, is India’s central anti-doping agency and authorized to conduct ‘in competition’ and ‘out of competition’ testing of Indian athletes. It operates under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) regulations.

Each year, several Indian athletes who compete at elite levels in their respective sports are chosen to be part of the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) by NADA.

Pooja Dhanda was among those included in the RTP for the year 2022. NADA recorded two filing failures and one missed test against Pooja.

The NADA issued the first filing failure letter to Pooja Dhanda in July 2022 and the second one in October.

Pooja Dhanda was charged with three whereabouts failures and banned for one year by the disciplinary panel on December 5, 2023. Her suspension started on June 15, 2023.

Apart from being a world championships bronze medallist, Pooja Dhanda won the silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and also the silver medal at the Youth Olympic Games in 2010.