Daily GK Update- 23rd Apr, 2023

NATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. Justice SV Bhatti appointed as acting Chief Justice of Kerala High Court: In the exercise of the power conferred by Article 223 of the Constitution of India, the President has appointed Justice Sarasa Venkatanarayana Bhatti as Acting Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court with effect from April 24, 2023. He would replace the current Chief Justice S Manikumar, who will retire on the aforementioned date. He served as a Judge from the Andhra Pradesh High Court and is presently working as the senior-most judge of the Kerala High Court.

 

2. Madhya Pradesh's Gandhisagar Sanctuary to be second new home of Cheetahs: In a meeting with the Wildlife Advisory Board, Madhya Pradesh CM, Shivraj Singh Chouhan instructed the development of the Gandhisagar Sanctuary as a habitat for cheetahs in the next six months. It will be developed as a second home for cheetahs to retain the tag of cheetah state. Reason: The experts suggested that Kuno National Park in Sheopur does not have enough space for all cheetahs, hence it is necessary to relocate a few

 

3. Arun Sinha appointed as new chairman of NTRO: Arun Sinha has been appointed as the new chairman of the National Technical Research Organization (NTRO) by the Government of India. Sinha is a 1984 batch IPS officer of Kerala cadre. He was the acting chairman of NTRO before becoming the chairman. NTRO is a technical intelligence agency based in India. It works under the National Security Advisor in the Prime Minister’s Office and was established in 2004. The agency follows the same “norms of conduct” as other intelligence agencies in India such as the Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing.

 

4. Kerala launches One Panchayat, One Playground project: The Kerala government has launched a project for reviving the sports culture in the State by opening quality playgrounds in every panchayat of the southern state. The ‘One Panchayat, One Playground’ project was inaugurated by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at Kallikkad here where he said that a good sports culture was essential for building a healthy and happy society. The playgrounds would serve as a hub of local gatherings and social interactions. The project will address the lack of quality playgrounds in around 450 local bodies in the State. Each playground would cost around Rs one crore, half of which would be footed by the Sports department and the rest would be raised from the MLA and local body funds, through CSR, public private partnerships, etc.

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. Oliver Dowden named UK's new deputy prime minister: Oliver Dowden has been named the new deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom. He has replaced current Dy PM and Justice Secretary, Dominic Raab, who has resigned. Before this role, he had been serving as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Cabinet Office secretary, under the present UK government. He will continue in the roles alongside his new responsibilities. While Alex Chalk becomes the 10th justice secretary in 10 years.

 

2. World Book Day 2023: April 23: World Book Day is celebrated annually on April 23 to promote the love for reading, writing, publishing, and copyright. This day is also known as World Book and Copyright Day. The theme for World Book Day 2023 is 'Indigenous Languages.' This theme focuses on promoting the diversity in native languages of a country. It is the date on which several prominent authors, William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes, and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died.

 

3. AIIB to open its first overseas office in Abu Dhabi: Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have signed a host member agreement to officially open the bank’s first overseas office, an Interim Operational Hub (the Hub), in Abu Dhabi. The new foreign office in Abu Dhabi will support the AIIB’s development agenda by funding sustainable economic development projects, primarily in areas where it is most needed. The AIIB is a multilateral development bank that prioritizes financing infrastructure projects focused on sustainability.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

 

SPORTS

 

1. Rohit Sharma Announced as JioCinema’s brand ambassador: JioCinema, owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Viacom18, has signed up Rohit Sharma, captain of the men’s cricket India, as its brand ambassador. The cricketer will build on the OTT platform’s vision of making sports viewing synonymous with digital. As part of this collaboration, Rohit will be working with the JioCinema team to promote their digital-first approach towards sports viewing.

 

BANKING AND FINANCE

 

1. HDFC Bank gets RBI relief on PSL norms: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given HDFC Bank three years to comply with the priority sector lending norms (PSL), after its merger with HDFC Ltd (HDFC). No relaxation is allowed for abiding by the cash reserve ratio (CRR) and statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) rules. As per the RBI norms, commercial banks need to extend 40% of the adjusted net bank credit (ANBC) of the previous year towards the priority sector.

 

2. Mastercard collaborates with M1xchange for digital invoice discounting: Mastercard has joined hands with M1xchange to offer a digital invoice discounting solution to farmers, farmer-producer organizations (FPOs), and agri-MSMEs through Farm Pass. This platform will enable easy access to credit and working capital. This solution will also allow farmers and FPOs to directly connect with buyers, negotiate the best price for their produce, and get paid faster. Farm Pass is part of Mastercard’s broader Community Pass platform.

 

3. Morgan Stanley: India's GDP to grow at 6.2% in FY24: According to the Morgan Stanley report, India's GDP in FY24 would grow at 6.2 percent. Inflation in India is likely to be below 5% in the second quarter of the calendar year 2024. The headline consumer price index (CPI) for March was in line with expectations. Morgan noted that the key to sustained domestic demand is a pickup in capex, which will help create more jobs, thus leading to a virtuous cycle of more jobs-to-higher income-higher savings-higher investment.

 

AWARDS AND HONOURS

 

1. Wing Commander Deepika Misra received a gallantry award: Wing Commander Deepika Misra was conferred the Vayu Sena medal by Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Marshal VR Chaudhari. She becomes the first woman Air Force officer to receive a gallantry award. She is a trained helicopter pilot, a qualified flying instructor, and an instrument-rated instructor and examiner. She was among 58 personnel who received the gallantry award during the investiture ceremony held in New Delhi.

 

2. Health Ministry receives PM's Award for Excellence in Public Administration: The National COVID-19 Vaccination Programme of the Union Health Ministry received the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration 2022 under the innovation category. The award was received by Rajesh Bhushan (Secretary, Ministry of Health) from PM Narendra Modi. PM Gati Shakti national master plan initiative received an award for excellence in public administration 2022 in the 'Innovation (Central)' category.

 

OBITUARIES

 

1. Sidharth Rao, co-founder of Webchutney, passes away: The co-founder and former CEO of Webchutney, Sidharth Rao passed away due to a fatal cardiac arrest. In 1999, he founded India’s first and top digital agency WebChutney. In July 2021, Rao was chosen to serve as the global CEO of Dentsu McGarrybowen. In 2022, he stepped down as group CEO of dentsuMB India and joined hands and launched a new venture in the marketing technology (MarTech) space, called Punt Partners along with serial entrepreneur Madhu Sudan.