Daily GK and Current Affairs Quiz – 3rd March 2023

Correct Answer:  D. Ramesh Singh Arora

Explanation:  Pakistan Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif has appointed Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora as the first Ambassador-at-Large for Kartarpur Corridor. This appointment is part of efforts to attract Sikh pilgrims from across the world. He hails from Kartarpur in Narowal. He is also the central general secretary of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) minorities wing. This corridor links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan with the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district, Punjab, India.

Correct Answer:  C. Startups, Women, and Youth Advantage Through eTransactions

Explanation:  Government eMarketplace (GeM) has commemorated the success of “SWAYATT” initiative. This initiative aims to promote Startups, Women, and Youth Advantage Through eTransactions (SWAYATT) on GeM. Aim: To promote the inclusion of various categories of sellers and service providers on the portal by taking proactive steps to facilitate their training and registration, develop women’s entrepreneurship, and encourage the participation of the MSME sector and startups in public procurement.

What is Government e-Marketplace (GeM)

• GeM is an Online Market platform that was set up in 2016 to facilitate the procurement of goods and services by government ministries, departments, public sector undertakings (PSU) etc.
• It has been envisaged as the National Procurement Portal of India.
• This portal was developed by the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (Ministry of Commerce and Industry) with technical support from the National e-governance Division (Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology).
• GeM is a completely paperless, cashless and system-driven e-marketplace that enables procurement of common-use goods and services with minimal human interface.

Correct Answer:  C. Dimapur-III

Explanation:  Hekani Jakhalu of the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) has created history by becoming the first woman MLA of the 60-member Nagaland Assembly. She was announced the winner from the Dimapur-III constituency in the 2023 Nagaland Assembly elections. She defeated Azheto Zhimomi of LJP (Ram Vilas) by 1,536 votes. Of 31,874 votes counted in the constituency, she received 45.16% of the votes, just ahead of the LJP (RV)’s Azheto Zhimomi who received 40.34% votes.

Correct Answer:  A. Bola Tinubu

Explanation:  Nigerian electoral officials announced that the ruling party’s candidate in the presidential election, Bola Tinubu, has been elected as the country’s new president. Bola Tinubu has been associated with the ‘All Progressive Congress Party’ from which he has been winning elections. He will become Nigeria’s fifth president since the country returned to democratic rule in 1999, emerging as winner for the country’s top job on his first attempt.

Correct Answer:  D. 70

Explanation:  The Union Cabinet approved the procurement of 70 HTT-40 basic trainer aircraft from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The approval was given to the Indian Air Force (IAF). The procurement would cost around Rs 6,828 crore. The aircraft will be supplied over a period of six years. The aircraft is expected to meet the shortage of basic trainer aircraft of the IAF required for training newly inducted pilots. The aircraft, being an indigenous solution, is configurable for upgrades to incorporate the futuristic requirements of the IAF. The procurement will include associated equipment, training aids and simulators.

• The HTT-40 is a turboprop aircraft designed to have good low-speed handling qualities and provide better training effectiveness. It has a fully aerobatic tandem seat turbo trainer with an air-conditioned cockpit, modern avionics, hot re-fueling, running change over and zero-zero ejection seats.
• The HTT-40 contains around 56 per cent indigenous content, which would increase to over 60 per cent through the indigenisation of major components and subsystems. The HAL would engage Indian private industry, including MSMEs, in its supply chain.

Correct Answer:  B. Axis Bank

Explanation:  Mumbai-headquartered Axis Bank has completed the acquisition of the India consumer business of the Citigroup-owned foreign bank Citibank for Rs 12,325 crore prior to evaluation of the closing position of Citibank India’s assets, assets under management, and liabilities as of January 31, 2023. Post evaluation, the deal is valued at around Rs 11,603 crore.

Correct Answer:  C. 37th

Explanation:  Mumbai’s rank has improved to 37th from 92nd in a global list of movement in prices of luxury homes as the city saw an appreciation of 6.4 per cent during 2022 calendar year, according to Knight Frank India. The value of Prime International Residential Index (PIRI 100) that tracks the movement in luxury house prices across the world increased by 5.2 per cent YoY in 2022.

Aspen ranks 2nd with 27.6 per cent growth in prices, followed by Riyadh (25 per cent), Tokyo (22.8 per cent), Miami (21.6 per cent), Prague (16.3 per cent), Algarve (15.3 per cent), Bahamas (15 per cent), Athens 13 per cent and Porto (12.7 per cent). According to the report, Monaco continues its reign as the world’s most expensive city where USD 1 million can get you 17 square metres of space.

Correct Answer:  B. Bajaj Finserv

Explanation:  Bajaj Finserv, one of India’s leading and diversified financial services groups, has received the final approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India to start its mutual fund operations as Bajaj Finserv Mutual Fund. The Indian mutual fund industry has assets worth Rs 39.62 lakh crore and has 42 asset management companies working in the sector as on January 2023. Sanjiv Bajaj, Chairman & Managing Director, Bajaj Finserv.

Correct Answer:  C. 3rd March

Explanation:  Every 3rd of March, wildlife is celebrated all over the world for the UN World Wildlife Day. This date was chosen as it is the birthday of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, signed in 1973. This global event is marked annually to celebrate and promote awareness of the planet’s wild fauna and flora. The date also marks the adoption of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1973. CITES aims to prevent international trade from threatening species’ survival. World Wildlife Day will be celebrated in 2023 under the theme “Partnerships for wildlife conservation”, honoring the people who are making a difference.

Correct Answer:  C. Sashidhar Jagdishan

Explanation:  Sashidhar Jagdishan, MD & CEO of HDFC Bank, has been chosen as the Business Standard Banker of the Year 2022, as the lender continued its strong performance under his leadership while successfully navigating through technology-related challenges. An eminent five-member jury, chaired by former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor S S Mundra, picked the CEO of the largest private sector bank of the country as the winner.

The other jury members were Vice Chairman and CEO of HDFC Limited Keki Mistry, Ican Investment Advisors Chairman Anil Singhvi, Aditya Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company MD and CEO A Balasubramanian, and former MD and CEO of Bank of Baroda P S Jayakumar.

Correct Answer:  D. Chief Justice of India

Explanation:   Former Chief Justice of India Aziz MushaAziz Mushabber Ahmadiber Ahmadi passed. Ahmadi was elevated to the Supreme Court as a judge in December, 1988 and became the chief justice with effect from October 25, 1994. Justice Ahmadi, who became the third Muslim ever to serve as CJI, demitted office on March 24, 1997.

• Born on March 25, 1932 in Surat, Ahmadi was appointed Judge, City Civil & Sessions Court, Ahmedabad in March, 1964.
• He was appointed secretary to the Gujarat government’s legal department in June, 1974.
• Ahmadi was appointed as a judge in the Gujarat High Court on September 2, 1976.
• He also served as president of the Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee and as the executive chairman of the Committee for Implementing Legal Aid Schemes in India from November 1, 1990 to October 24, 1994.
• He also served as Chancellor at the Aligarh Muslim University for two terms.

Correct Answer:  D. United Arab Emirates

Explanation:  The government of Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), one of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates, has announced plans to establish RAK Digital Assets Oasis, the world’s first free zone dedicated to digital and virtual asset companies.

• The announcement was made at the Blockchain Life 2023 conference.
• RAK Digital Assets Oasis will be a purpose-built, true innovation-enabling free zone for non-regulated activities in the virtual assets sector.
• It is intended to be the only free zone in the world solely dedicated to digital and virtual assets service providers innovating in new and emerging sectors of the future including metaverse, blockchain, utility tokens, virtual asset wallets, NFTs, DAOs, DApp, and other Web3-related businesses.
• RAK Digital Assets Oasis will open for applications in the second quarter of 2023.

Correct Answer:  C. IIT Madras

Explanation:  Indian Institute of Technology Madras has announced a collaboration with Industry and Academia in Denmark. Four projects were disclosed in the presence of the Crown Prince of Denmark, Lars Aagaard. Three out of these four projects were announced to enable energy transition towards a low-carbon future as envisioned by IIT Madras Energy Consortium. These three projects intend to-

• Accelerate technology development through industry-academia-government partnerships
• Collaborate with global partners to develop technology solutions that once deployed at scale in India will essentially become technology solutions for the world

• The fourth project was signed in the realm of Water to promote cooperation in engineering education and scientific research between Danfoss, Denmark and IIT Madras.
• Both institutions will undertake joint work on drinking water for coastal regions using renewable energy.

Correct Answer:  B. Jharkhand

Explanation:  NTPC has commissioned India’s first Air cooled condenser at North Karanpura Super Critical plant in Jharkhand. This project has been envisaged with Air Cooled Condenser which has almost 1/3rd water footprint as compared to a conventional Water Cooled Condenser. The North Karanpura plant will have a total capacity of 1980 MW, 3 Units of 660 MW each.  North Karanpura Thermal Power Station is located in Tandwa in the Simaria subdivision of the Chatra district, Jharkhand.

• The project was originally proposed in 1999 but got delayed because Coal India Limited objected to the location of the power plant and wanted NTPC to relocate the power plant as it was coming up on site having 6 billion tonnes of coal underneath it.
• The Government of India finally decided in 2013 February against the relocation and in 2013 July, the coal linkage for the plant was restored and the foundation stone was finally laid in August 2014.