Daily Current Affairs for Competitive Examinations: April 17, 2023

The section on current affairs is included in the question paper for almost every competitive examination like UPSC, SSC, IAS, Railway-RRB, UPPSC, UGC NET, SBI, MPPSC, and so on. Furthermore, if we have an effective preparation strategy, scoring high in this section is not difficult. Any exam’s current events section may be aced by candidates with the correct resources and daily news analysis.

Our experts at Embibe have chosen the most current occurrences from across the world and have put them in this article. To provide students with the most recent current affairs, we analysed the day’s most recent news, from The Hindu to the BBC.

Current Affairs: International

UN Commission on Population and Development

• Recently, the 56th session of UNCPD was held in New York. 

Highlights:

• Most countries are facing “a triple crisis in education – one of equity and inclusion, quality and relevance”. 
• As many as 130 million girls around the world are not in school today. 
• A Population Commission was established by the Economic and Social Council in 1946. 
• It was renamed by the General Assembly as Commission on Population and Development in 1994. 
• The Commission is composed of 47 Member States elected by the Economic and Social Council for a period of four years. India is a member till 2025.

Q1.) The 56th session of the UN Commission on Population and Development was held in

(A) Switzerland

(B) Geneva

(C) New York

(D) Paris

Answer: C

Check out the Highlights of the Economic Survey 2022-23 by clicking on the link given below:
Economic Survey 2022-23

Current Affairs: International

Britain names MI5 deputy as the first female cyber spy boss

• Britain recently named Anne Keast-Butler as the first female director of its intelligence communications agency GCHQ.
• She has been tasked with protecting the country from terrorists, cyber-criminals and malign foreign powers.
• She will take over the role in May, succeeding Jeremy Fleming, who is stepping down after a six-year tenure.
• She is currently deputy director general at Britain’s domestic intelligence agency, known as MI5.
• GCHQ is Britain’s main eavesdropping agency and has a close relationship with the U.S. National Security Agency as well as with counterparts in Canada, Australia and New Zealand in a consortium called “Five Eyes”.
• Stella Rimington became the first woman to lead MI5 in 1992 and was said to have inspired the casting of Judi Dench in the role of “M”, head of Britain’s foreign intelligence service known as MI6, in the James Bond movies a couple of years later.

Q2.) Who has been recently appointed as the first female director of the intelligence communications agency GCHQ in Britain?

(A) Priti Patel

(B) Anne Keast-Butler

(C) Katherine Brunt

(D) Theresa May

Answer: B

Current Affairs: National Interest 

‘A -HELP’ Programme launched in the State of Uttarakhand

• The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Mr Pushkar Singh Dhami, launched the ‘A-HELP’ (Accredited Agent for Health and Extension of Livestock Production) programme in the State of Uttarakhand.
• Under this Programme women have been chosen to strengthen livestock-related activities in remote rural areas, keeping in mind their important role for the same under the A-HELP scheme envisioned by Govt. of India.
• Under this programme, trained A-HELPs will contribute to preventing various infectious diseases of animals, artificial insemination under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM), tagging animals and animal insurance.

Q3.) Which state/UT government launched the A-Help programme?

(A) Punjab

(B) Uttarakhand

(C) Himachal Pradesh

(D) Jammu and Kashmir

Answer: B

Current Affairs: National Interest 

Kolkata Metro creates history; India’s first train runs under a river

• Kolkata Metro created history on 12 April, successfully conducting its maiden run through the tunnel under the Hooghly River. 
• The metro rake ran under the Hooghly River at 11:55 am.
• The Kolkata Metro reported that regular trial runs from Howrah Maidan metro station to Esplanade metro station will start very soon.
• For the first time in India, Metro has completed the river journey.
• The route from Howrah to Esplanade is about 4.8 km long, of which 520 metres will be through a tunnel under the Hooghly River. The tunnel under the river is 32 metres below the water level.  The entire length of this tunnel is 10.8 km underground.
• After the commissioning of this section, Howrah Maidan will become the deepest metro station in the country. 

Q4.) Which is the first Indian metro train that recently successfully conducted its maiden under river run?

(A) Hyderabad Metro

(B) Delhi Metro

(C) Bengaluru Metro

(D) Kolkata Metro 

Answer: D

Current Affairs: Famous Personalities

Maharashtra govt to celebrate Savarkar’s birth anniversary as “Swatantraveer Gaurav Din”

• Maharashtra Government has announced that the birth anniversary of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, which falls on 28 May, will be observed as  ‘Swatantraveer Gaurav Din’.
• Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said various programmes will be organised to promote and propagate the work and ideas of Veer Savarkar. 
• Coming on the heels of the Savarkar Yatra conducted by the BJP and Shiv Sena, this initiative will also highlight Savarkar’s huge contribution to India’sdom movement, propagate his ideology, and focus on his campaigns for social reforms and the abolition of untouchability.
• Vinayak Savarkar was born in Maharashtra’s Nashik district, on 28th May, 1883. 
• Next month will mark his 140th birth anniversary. Accordingly, state industries minister Uday Samant had written a letter to the Chief Minister, requesting him to observe the day as ‘Swatantraveer Gaurav Din’ so that the youth would be able to understand his struggles and get inspired by his ideology and determination.

Q5.) Which Indiandom fighter’s birthday will be celebrated as “Swatantraveer Gaurav Din” on 28 May by the Maharashtra government?

(A) Bal Gangadhar Tilak

(B) Mahatma Jyotiba Phule

(C) Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

(D) Vinoba Bhave

Answer: C

Current Affairs: Report and Index

India ranks 5th among countries with the most AI investment

• India ranked fifth in terms of investments received by startups offering artificial intelligence (AI)-based products and services last year, according to Stanford University’s annual AI Index report.
• AI startups in India received a total investment of $3.24 billion, surpassing countries such as South Korea, Germany, Canada, and Australia. 
• However, India is still behind the US, China, the UK, and Israel in terms of AI investments received.
• The AI Index is an independent initiative at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centred Artificial Intelligence (HAI), led by the AI Index Steering Committee, an interdisciplinary group of experts from across academia and industry. 
• The annual report collates, tracks, distils, and visualises data relating to artificial intelligence, enabling decision-makers to take meaningful action to advance AI responsibly and ethically with humans in mind.

Q6.) What is India’s rank in terms of artificial intelligence investment?

(A) 5th

(B) 3rd

(C) 2nd 

(D) 4th

Answer: A

Check out the Highlights of Union Budget 2023 by clicking on the link given below:
Union Budget 2023-24

Factbook: 14-April-2023

Bathinda Military Station

Four Army personnel of an artillery unit were killed in a firing incident at the Bathinda military station in Punjab, with the state police terming it a case of “fratricide”.

About Bathinda Military Station:

• It is one of the largest military stations in the country.
• It is spread over more than 50 acres and straddles the national highway, which connects Bathinda to the rest of the country.
• The military station is a vital operational as well as a logistics base for the Army units responsible for the defence of southern Punjab and adjoining Rajasthan.
• The military station has a number of units from infantry, armoured, artillery, army aviation, engineers, signals and other divisions located across its vast area.
• An Army Sub Area, a logistical headquarters, is located here.
• A vital ammunition dump is also part of the Bathinda military station, whose location was originally picked as it was far from the city.

Krithivasan to take over from Gopinathan as TCS CEO from 1st June

• K Krithivasan, the new chief executive officer (CEO) of TCS, will take charge of the company from Rajesh Gopinathan with effect from 1st June. 
• The term of his appointment is for a period of 5 years.
• Gopinathan has been serving as TCS MD and CEO since January 2017, when N Chandrasekaran was appointed as the Chairman of Tata Sons.
• The new CEO designate, Krithivasan, joined TCS in 1989, and during this long tenure, he has held various leadership roles in delivery, customer relationship management, large programme management and sales.

Chennai to host the Asian Hockey Men’s Championship after 15 years

• After a gap of 15 years, Chennai is set to host the Asian Hockey Men’s Championship in August 2023.
• The men’s Asia Cup hockey championship in 2007 was the last international hockey event that happened in Chennai.
• The World Squash Federation (WSF) had announced that the World Cup, a team event which is making a comeback after 12 years with a new format, would be held in Chennai.
• Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development Udhayanidhi Stalin revealed that former India captain and current Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni would be the brand ambassador for the ‘Tamil Nadu Champions Foundation’.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari inaugurates the Peerah-Kunfer Tunnel at Ramban

• Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has inaugurated Peerah-Kunfer Tunnel at Ramban.
• The 924 metres long Tube 1 of the Peeda-Kunfer Tunnel would bypass the 2.9 km congested, zigzag, and the accident-prone area between Nashri and Ramban.
• The tunnel is a part of the ongoing four-lane project of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) between Udhampur and Ramban on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.
• The tunnel will reduce the 2.9 km distance National Highway, and it would provide huge relief to the passengers travelling in the Ramban district on the national highway.

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